Patients ‘justified’ to feel government failed them, Freeman tells inquiry

Patients are “justified” in feeling the government failed to protect them over the hospital infections scandal, former health secretary Jeane Freeman has said.

Ms Freeman also said that with hindsight she would not have allowed the flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow to have opened, given reports about problems with its water system.

The former SNP minister, who held the health portfolio between 2018 and 2021, gave evidence to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry on Friday.

The inquiry has been examining the design and construction of the QEUH in Glasgow and the Royal Hospital for Children, which are on the same campus.

It was launched in the wake of deaths linked to infections, including that of 10-year-old Milly Main.

Inquiry counsel Fred Mackintosh KC asked Ms Freeman a hypothetical question – if she would still have allowed the hospital to open “with all the knowledge you have now”.

She made reference to a report from experts which outlined concerns with the hospital’s water system.

Ms Freeman said: “If all the knowledge that I had at stage four includes the DMA Canyon report – I would not have allowed the hospital to open, no.”

The QEUH formally opened in July 2015 and cost £842 million to build.

The inquiry, being held before Lord Brodie, had earlier been told that DMA Canyon had produced reports in 2015 and 2017, but these were only seen by senior managers at the health board in 2018.

Later, Mr Mackintosh asked Ms Freeman about patients and families who feel the Scottish Government and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) had failed to protect them.

She said “I completely understand why they feel like that. I think to a significant extent they are justified in that feeling.

“And that there is no excuse for that having been the case. There may be reasons, there may be legitimate actions subsequently taken to try to redress that.

“But that doesn’t remove the additional burden on anxiety that those patients and family face, at a time then they had enough anxiety and worry to deal with.”

Earlier, Ms Freeman told the inquiry the government had been “naive” in its oversight of the health board.

Ms Freeman believed leaders at NHS GGC took a “nothing to see here” approach when concerns emerged about the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

She described a meeting in early 2019 with the health board’s leaders which left her feeling they did not appreciate the “seriousness” of the situation.

A few months earlier, the hospital was forced to “decant” patients from some wards in response to a water contamination incident.

Following Ms Freeman’s evidence on Friday, Lord Brodie thanked the inquiry team for the “enormous” amount of work they had done.

With the evidence-gathering part of the inquiry now complete, Lord Brodie said hearings would reconvene in January 2026.