Parents who fear their children have been permanently disabled in the NHS infections scandal have accused John Swinney of ‘turning his back’ on them.
The families said the First Minister did not even look at them yesterday as they stood in the Holyrood gallery while their heartbreaking stories were read out by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
The parents want in-depth case reviews to expose ‘cover-ups’ at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. They say their children were given powerful antibiotics which caused life-changing complications.
Karen Stirrat, whose ten-year-old son Caleb struggles to walk and suffers chronic pain and incontinence after being treated for a brain tumour, said: ‘For John Swinney to turn his back on us today is appalling.’
Another parent, Mark Bisset, whose daughter Charly, 14, has started the menopause after suffering hormone problems following leukaemia treatment, said he wanted to ask Mr Swinney: ‘How do you sleep at night?’
All the parents said they would avoid the QEUH if they could, and warned other families were going through the same experience there at the moment.
The First Minister refused to grant their request, saying he had to wait for the outcome of Lord Brodie’s public inquiry into the QEUH scandal before taking any action.
The parents were told the anti-fungal and anti-bacterial drugs, usually given for short periods, were part of a standard treatment regime for their children’s cancer.
They now believe medics prescribed them for months because the environment at the £1billion super-hospital was unsafe - but failed to tell them the truth.
Lord Brodie’s inquiry is looking at how rushed and flawed work at the QEUH and Royal Hospital for Children led to a wave of infections soon after the opening in 2015.
Two children died and at least 84 fell ill from infections contracted on site.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde denied for years the building was to blame, but last month conceded a probable link to a contaminated water system.
At First Minister’s Questions, Mr Sarwar said there had been an ‘understandable focus on the lives lost’ at the QEUH, but there were ‘many others harmed’.
He said: ‘Prophylaxis - powerful anti-infection drugs -are typically used short term, but for many children at the hospital, they were prescribed for prolonged periods, as long as nine months, with side effects.
‘Patients were told this was standard treatment, not connected to the hospital environment.
‘These families believe their children have been left with life-long debilitating conditions as a result.
‘Aneeka’s daughter Eshaal, nine, who wakes up most mornings screaming, clutching her stomach in pain.
‘Leann’s son William, 13, who was so sick on the drugs he burned all the enamel off his teeth.
‘Charmaine’s daughter Paige, 9, who has pain in her limbs and severe stomach issues so can’t go to school.
‘Her parents told me there is a culture of cover-ups and that people were playing God with children’s lives.’
Mr Swinney said: ‘I can’t give an opinion about the clinical decisions that are offered in individual cases, what I can do is express my sympathy to the families that are involved, recognise their suffering and provide them with the reassurance that the Inquiry under the leadership of Lord Brodie is designed to capture the evidence and provide answers.’
The Labour leader then drew Mr Swinney’s attention to the parents in the gallery.
‘All the families whose tragic stories I have shared are here today in the Parliament, and each and every single one of them - who are standing right now - have spent years having to stand up for themselves against a system that has misled them and treated them appallingly.
‘Cover ups, secrecy, misdirection and downright deception - with tragic consequences.
‘John Swinney knows that the public inquiry is not looking at individual cases, and therefore cannot give those families the answers that they deserve or that they are looking for.
‘Will he commit to setting up a genuinely independent expert panel to look at each of these cases on an individual basis?’
Mr Swinney said he would ‘consider his request’ but added: ‘I have to reserve my position until we get the report from Lord Brodie.
‘Parliament has asked for a public inquiry to be undertaken, and I cannot, as First Minister, pre-judge the outcome.’
However there is a precedent for a twin-track approach.
The judge-led Eljamel Inquiry into a rogue NHS Tayside surgeon, which began last year, is running alongside a Clinical Review letting patients and families discuss their cases.
Afterwards, the families spoke to the media about Mr Swinney’s response.
Alfred Rawson, who daughter Paige, suffered hearing, eye and gut problems after eight months of prophylaxis for leukaemia, said: ‘I think he’s hiding behind the public inquiry. The inquiry was set up to look at construction, build, the water and ventilation. This is totally different.
‘We’re calling for a person-by-person review on the long-term effects of medication on our children.’
Charmaine Lacock, Paige’s mother, added: ‘We have disabled children for life because of choices the Scottish Government made.
‘We need someone to look at the long-term side effects of these drugs, which our children were given again and again.
‘When we speak to other hospitals, their children don’t have the same side effects.’
Ms Stirrat, whose son stills goes to the QEUH, said: ‘That hospital is not a safe place to eat regardless of what is said.
‘That’s why we’re calling for this help from the government, because we want other families not to go through what we went though.’
‘Seven years I’ve waited for answers. For me, there’s been a cover-up from day one.
‘To this day, no one from NHSGCC or the Scottish Government have told me why my son was on that medication. For John Swinney to turn his back on us today is appalling.’
Aneeka Sohrab, whose daughter Eshaal has severe stomach pain, stunted growth and poor hearing after taking the drugs, said families need reassurance the QEUH is safe.
‘It looked like John Swinney was quite afraid to open up what he thought was another can of worms. My daughter is living with the side-effects of prophylaxis medication on a daily basis. She wakes up crying, clutching her stomach. She’s noticeably shorter than her peers. She shouldn’t be having these issues at this point.’
Leann Young, mother of 13-year-old William, who suffers extreme sickness every day, said she felt helpless knowing ‘this will affect him for the rest of his life’.
In a message to Mr Swinney, she said: ‘Why have you allowed a hospital that isn’t safe, why have you put all these people at risk? I don’t want to go in there with the added stress of him picking up an infection.
‘You don’t take your child into hospital to get worse, you take them in to get better.’
It in closing written statement to the Inquiry, the NHSGCC suggested it had come under political pressure to start admitting patients before the QEUH was ready.
Mr Swinney vehemently denied SNP politicians were the source.
But just a month before it admitted patients, Mr Swinney told the SNP conference the QEUH would open ‘on time and on budget’ as ‘with the SNP Government, “on time and on budget” is the rule, not the exception.’
The FM’s spokesman said he would be ‘very happy to meet with those families, once he has had a chance to consider the issues that were put to him’.
NHSGCC said: ‘While we cannot comment on individual patient cases, consultants are always transparent with families about medication provided.
‘Cancer treatments can significantly weaken the immune system.
‘Prophylactic drugs can be an established part of care in these circumstances, as they help prevent infections.
‘The environment at the Royal Hospital for Children is safe and this medication continues to be prescribed to some patients receiving treatment as part of patient medical protocol.’
Read more
Post a Comment for "Swinney 'turns his back' on NHS bug scandal families"