Death of a child at the Glasgow hospital linked to infection with pigeon droppings

Pigeon droppings contributed to the infection that led to the death of a child at Scotland's flagship hospital.

The child died at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and an autopsy revealed that they had inhaled a fungus, mainly present in pigeon droppings.

Another patient was also infected, but it is thought that the infection did not contribute to his death.

Scottish Secretary of Health, Jeane Freeman, said that a review would be conducted in the design, construction, delivery and maintenance of the flagship hospital.

She told the MSP that traces of pigeon droppings had been found in a room on the top floor where there was a small crack in the wall that was "invisible to the naked eye".

The hospital was built for the Scottish Government at a cost of £ 842 million and opened at the end of April 2015.

Ms. Freeman said that although the hospital was only recently built, there appeared to be a "number of cases" in which the building fabric was "less than satisfactory".

After visiting the hospital, the Scottish Secretary of Health said: "I agreed to carry out a review, with external expert advice, on the design of the building, the commissioning of the works, building construction, building refurbishment and building maintenance, to enable us to identify areas that should have been addressed and areas where maintenance programs should now be more robust or more frequent. "

Ms. Freeman announced the review after exposing "clear factual evidence" about the deaths of two patients by MSPs at Holyrood.

She stated that the Cryptococcus bacteria had been identified in one patient in November 2018 but that it was not related to the death of that person the following month.

Ms. Freeman added, "In December, an autopsy of a deceased child confirmed that Cryptococcus was both present and had contributed to their deaths."

She explained that the second case had resulted in the introduction of additional infection control measures by the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, including the prescription of antifungal drugs to "vulnerable patients" and the provision of additional air filters.

"I am convinced that the board of directors has taken all necessary measures to ensure and maintain patient safety," she said.

La porte-parole sur la santé au travail, Monica Lennon, a déclaré que le public serait "choqué" d'apprendre que l'une des personnes décédées était un enfant, car elle avait affirmé que le conseil de la santé avait "totalement manqué de clarté" au sujet de l'infection.

Mme Lennon a déclaré: "Je pense que les Ecossais seront convaincus qu'il est absolument extraordinaire que dans un hôpital moderne, le centre hospitalier phare et apparemment super de l'Écosse, nous nous trouvions dans une situation où les pigeons et les infections peuvent tuer des patients.

"Si cette infection impensable et meurtrière peut se produire chez le phare Queen Elizabeth, comment empêcher cela de se produire dans d'autres hôpitaux?"