The mother of a ten-year-old girl who died in horrific circumstances in a flagship Glasgow hospital has urged MSPs to back changes to the Scottish Government's new patient safety commissioner legislation.
Kimberly Darroch said parliamentarians needed to "do the right thing and ensure that patients and families come first and are never an afterthought."
Stage 3 of the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill is due to be debated on Wednesday.
Labour will push amendments to the legislation to enact Milly’s Law to "reset the balance between families and powerful public bodies and ensure that bereaved families are at the heart of the response to disasters and public scandals."
The measure is named after 10-year-old Milly Main, who had been in remission from leukaemia at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) but then died after contracting stenotrophomonas at the hospital - an infection found in water.
Mum Kimberly Darroch only learned about the infection link when a whistleblower told Anas Sarwar about a doctor-led investigation into the 2017 death.
READ MORE: Sarwar accuses Yousaf of 'empowering' under-fire health board chiefs
The changes being debated on Wednesday would place a duty on the commissioner to advocate on behalf of those affected by a major incident in relation to the safety of health care.
There would also be a duty to provide patients and their family members with information relating to sources of support, including information on accessing legal support, and details of any investigations or inquiries relating to the major incident.
The government initially rejected the changes proposed by Labour when they were first debated back in March 2022.
However, ahead of this week’s vote, the Scottish Government has been working with the opposition in a bid to find consensus.
Nevertheless, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, Dame Jackie Baillie said she was concerned.
Dame Jackie said: “The SNP and the Greens have already betrayed patients once during this Bill – they must not do the same again. I welcome the change of heart and the co-operation of the Scottish Government in delivering Milly’s Law.
“Too often patients and families hit by scandals in our healthcare system are failed by those in power and forced to fight for justice.
“This Bill is an important chance to start tipping the balance of power back towards patients and it is essential that the SNP-Green government take this opportunity by backing Labour’s plans.”
Milly’s mother Kimberly Darroch said: “I urge MSPs from all parties to do the right thing and ensure that patients and families come first and are never an afterthought.
“Right now, the system is stacked against those who have questions about what happened to their loved ones – that can’t be right.
“We are looking to our parliament to put measures in place so that nobody has to go through what we went through ever again.”
READ MORE: Mum of child at centre of Glasgow hospital scandal demands answers
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This important Bill champions the value of listening to patients and will ensure organisations are held to account for their responsibility to take patients’ concerns seriously.
“The Bill already ensures the Commissioner is independent of government and the NHS and will be accountable to the Scottish Parliament.
“It also allows the Commissioner complete freedom to consider or investigate any issue they believe to have a significant bearing on patient safety in health care, and they will be able to gather information from patients and their families, as well as from healthcare providers, to inform their work.
“The Government has listened carefully to MSPs and has worked collaboratively with everyone ahead of Stage 3 this week.”
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