Take responsibility and apologise for QEUH deaths, Sarwar urges Swinney

John Swinney has been urged to take responsibility and apologise for issues at a flagship hospital linked to the deaths of children.

The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow has been the subject of an inquiry due to patient deaths and infections linked to contaminated water and ventilation systems.

At Holyrood on Thursday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar pointed to a speech the First Minister gave in 2015 at an SNP conference which he said proves there was political interference at the hospital – something denied by the Government.

During First Minister’s Questions, Mr Sarwar quoted Mr Swinney, who at the time was deputy first minister, as saying weeks ahead of an election: “With the SNP Government, on time and on budget is the rule, not the exception.”

Mr Sarwar said the quote amounted to “clear political pressure” to open the hospital before it was ready.

He said that just weeks after the speech, an independent report stated the children’s hospital was not safe, had a high risk of infections, “and therefore high risk to life for immunocompromised patients”.

Mr Sarwar told the First Minister on Thursday: “That report was ignored, and the hospital opened anyway. Children died as a result. So will he now finally take responsibility and apologise to the families?”

He accused the SNP leader of “denying reality” and “misleading” Parliament, and said he was “insulting” the intelligence of affected families while “exacerbating their pain”.

But Mr Swinney urged Mr Sarwar to “respect” the ongoing inquiry and “stop playing politics”.

He told Holyrood: “Mr Sarwar comes here and his big reveal today is the contents of a conference speech that I gave in front of thousands and thousands of people which was broadcast on live television.

“I do not quite understand what the sensational point that Mr Sarwar is trying to put forward.

“It smacks of desperation in the arguments that Mr Sarwar is putting forward.

“We have established an independent public inquiry, which we will leave to make its judgments about this whole issue so that the families involved can get the truth, which is what they deserve to get.”

The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board has denied facing political pressure to open the hospital early.