Patients at the QEUH had to wait more than 10 hours for treatment at A&E (Image: Daily Record)

Specialist 'had to ask' other experts about infections found at Glasgow hospital

by · Daily Record

Get the latest Daily Record breaking news on WhatsApp

Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info

Join us on WhatsApp

A specialist who has a 27-year career in infection prevention told an inquiry she "had to ask" other experts about some of the infections caught by children at a newly-built hospital.

Gaynor Evans, clinical lead for infection prevention and control with NHS Improvement North of England from 2013 to 2016, admitted that she even had trouble pronouncing one of the infections detected at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow when she was tasked to review case notes.

She was giving evidence on Tuesday to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, which was launched in 2020 after two deaths were linked to infections, and is examining the construction of the QEUH campus. Ms Evans, who told the inquiry her career in infection prevention started in 1997, was asked to review 85 cases relating to children who fell ill after being placed on wards within the hospital.

Scottish Hospitals Inquiry news

Senior counsel to the inquiry Fred Mackintosh KC referred to previous discussions during earlier hearings about the concept of "unusual micro-organisms" found at QEUH and asked Ms Evans what should be understood about it.

She replied: "All I can tell you is that some of these infections I've not seen in my career."

Asked about background rates of infection, Ms Evans said there should always be continuous efforts to reduce background rates.

"We shouldn't be complacent and just accept that is the background rate," she said. "You should be striving to reduce background infection, not accept that is the norm."

Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.

When asked how this would apply to the kind of "micro-organisms" found at the QEUH, Ms Evans answered: "Some of these I had to ask about because I had never come across them before. If you get a novel organism - it should ring some alarm bells. Where did this come from? Have we seen it before? When was the last time we saw this?

"I think there some infections that they only had five in the whole year, previously, in the whole of Scotland, and yet we had three infections of the same organism in a very short period of time."

Mr Mackintosh asked Ms Evans to take a look at a list of some of the "micro-organisms" found at the QEUH. She told the inquiry there were at least four she had not come across before.

Shown a second table featuring more names, Ms Evans said there were another four she had not seen before.

She added: "If you find something and you think: 'I don't even know how to pronounce that', that's really unusual."

The inquiry, being held before Lord Brodie in Edinburgh, continues.

Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.