Health Secretary quizzed on hospitals
Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, is going to face questions from a parliamentary committee later on the growing scandal at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
Holyrood's Health and Sport Committee is conducting an ongoing inquiry into health hazards in the healthcare environment which was launched following reports of infections at QEUH and building issues at the delayed Royal Hospital for Sick Children, which was supposed to open in Edinburgh over the summer.
It comes after the Health Secretary confirmed bringing NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde under special measures was a possibility'', meaning there could be an increase in Government intervention in the board.
She spoke out after it was revealed police had investigated the death of a three-year-old boy, named by newspapers as Mason Djemat, at the Royal Children's Hospital, which is on the same campus as the QEUH.
Mason was being treated at one of two wards that were closed last September as Health Protection Scotland nvestigated water contamination incidents.
The committee will quiz the Health Secretary on the progress of the public inquiry into issues in the Glasgow and Edinburgh hospitals, as well as looking at the establishment of a national department to monitor NHS building work.
Committee convener Lewis Macdonald said: "The issues at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Edinburgh's new Sick Kids hospital are of deep concern to our committee.
"We want to ensure that the public inquiry into the various issues these health facilities have faced is progressing.
"We also want to know what progress has been made in creating a new national body to oversee NHS building projects in future and that the issues regarding the disposal of clinical waste are being addressed.
"It is absolutely vital that patients in Scotland have faith that all healthcare facilities in Scotland meet the most robust standards of safety and cleanliness and pose no threat to their health.''
Mason died in the same month as 10-year-old Milly Main, whose mother accused the health board of a "cover-up'' over her daughter's death, which she believes was caused by an infected water supply.
Kimberly Darroch believes officials at the health board knew the reason for her daughter's death but did not tell her.
The Health Secretary admitted on Monday she had "concerns'' about how the two cases were handled.
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