Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to “come clean” and say if she "leaned" on bosses at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to open the £1 billion flagship the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) despite safety concerns over its water system.
The call from the Tories comes as Labour demand the release of all government documents linked to what is fast becoming the biggest scandal in the history of Scotland’s NHS.
Last week, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) admitted for the first time that it was “more likely than not” contaminated water caused serious infections in vulnerable patients, including children with cancer.
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The health board’s confession, revealed in closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, comes after years of denying any link between the hospital’s water system and a cluster of infections.
Two children died as a result of infections at the hospital, including ten-year-old Milly Main.
In closing submissions to the probe, the health board also claimed that “pressure was applied to open the hospital on time and on budget” and that “it is now clear that the hospital opened too early. It was not ready”.
Tests carried out in December 2014 highlighted the presence of microbes in the water supply.
However, the £840m campus, which includes the Royal Hospital for Children, officially opened in July 2015.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane has written to Ms Sturgeon demanding she make a personal statement to Parliament on what she knew about the safety concerns.
“This flagship hospital was opened just weeks before the 2015 general election, despite concerns over its water supply. A number of patients, including 10-year-old Milly Main, subsequently lost their lives.
“If Nicola Sturgeon leaned on NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde bosses to push this hospital over the line for political gain, that would be utterly unforgivable.”
In a letter to the former first minister, Dr Gulhane wrote: "I appreciate your book tour keeps you away from the Scottish Parliament, but given the seriousness of this issue I hope that you will find time to give the grieving families the answers that they deserve."
Meanwhile, Labour leader Anas Sarwar and his deputy Jackie Baillie have written to First Minister John Swinney and Health Secretary Neil Gray demanding the full release of all ministerial communications, Cabinet minutes and discussions relating to the hospital.
Mr Swinney was Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary when the campus opened to patients in April 2015.
The pair accused ministers and health board leaders of denial, delay and institutional self-protection while families fought for answers.
In their letter, the pair said the health board had “partially admitted what families, clinicians and whistleblowers have been saying all along”.
“Immunocompromised children receiving cancer care were exposed to infection risks in the very place meant to protect them. Families were forced to fight not only cancer, but an unseen danger inside hospital walls.
“And while this was happening, the board and SNP ministers denied, downplayed, and delayed. They did not put patient safety first. They did not put families first. They closed ranks.
“Even more shocking, the board has now also accepted that whistleblowers were treated appallingly — bullied, silenced, and made to fear for their careers for doing the right thing. That is not just wrong. It is disgraceful."
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They added: “Let us be clear: this is not about frontline NHS staff. The nurses, doctors, cleaners, porters, and support workers at QEUH have cared for Scotland’s sickest children with compassion and professionalism under immense pressure. They are not to blame.
“The failure lies with senior leadership and a culture of secrecy and poor governance — enabled by ministers who repeatedly denied the scale of the problem and dismissed legitimate concerns.”
Mr Sarwar and Dame Jackie said they believed that “ministerial conduct during this process could have breached a criminal threshold — and should be investigated by the proper authorities”.
“The public has a right to know what ministers knew, when they knew it, and what actions were taken.
“This is about more than one hospital. It is about a culture in public bodies that too often protects the institution rather than the people it exists to serve.
“Families deserve answers. They deserve accountability. And they deserve justice.
“The question is simple: will you finally do the right thing — and release the communications Scotland has waited too long to see?”
Responding to Labour, Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “On the question of transparency, I note that the Government brought forward the public inquiry so that families—some of whom I have met, and to whom I pay tribute for their work and their diligence following the trauma that they have undoubtedly experienced—can get answers to the questions that they are posing.
“It is because we have instigated a public inquiry that, I believe, we are getting to the truth.
“We have provided all relevant evidence to the inquiry, relating to the whole of its terms of reference. That evidence is still being considered by the inquiry, and I will not comment further until the inquiry publishes its findings.
“It is important that we allow the public inquiry the space to consider its final conclusions, so that the final report can be considered before we determine any final considerations."
On Tuesday, a lawyer for NHSGCC said the health board accepted offered a “full and unreserved apology” for the distress and trauma experienced by patients and families.
Peter Gray KC said that whilst no “definite link” between any infection and any confirmed source of infection, there was an “infection spike apparent during the water incident.”
On Wednesday, Mr Gray said there should be a distinction between the “acts or omissions or conduct” of those managing the project and those addressing the “unprecedented circumstances” which they faced after the project was complete and the hospital was handed over.
Lord Brodie, who is chairing the inquiry, asked what the test should be to distinguish between where personal responsibility should be attributed if the evidence supports that, and where it should not.
Mr Gray said: “I would suggest, my Lord, that the distinction is to be made between those who were acting under extreme pressure in an unprecedented situation following the handover of the hospital.
“In respect of those personnel and my submission, personal professional criticism should not be made of any of those individuals, having regard to the extreme pressure under which they were working.
“Whereas by contrast, I would accept that in relation to the management of the project, where the inquiry considers that there have been failings, that individuals should be held to account where appropriate.
“And where criticism is due, it is accepted that it should be made robustly, and that is the distinction I seek to draw.”
