Queen Elizabeth University Hospital handed improvement notice over ward ventilation
Health and safety chiefs have ordered bosses at the crisis-hit Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to make improvements.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed chief executive Jane Grant received an improvement notice from the Health and Safety Executive on Christmas Eve.
The notice, which has been published on the health board's website, states the hospital has failed to ensure the ventilation system within Ward 4C is "suitable and sufficient to ensure that high risk patients who are vulnerable to infection are protected from exposure to potentially harmful airborne microbiological organisms".
Hospital bosses have been working with the HSE in recent months and a meeting has been set up for the first week of January to discuss the improvement notice.
As part of the notice the hospital will be required to carry out a verification of the ventilation system for Ward 4C, a renal transplant/haemato-oncology ward, by March 31, 2020.
Ms Grant said: "We are sorry for the distress that patients and their families have experienced by the current issues and want to assure them and the public that we are working with the Scottish Government to do everything necessary to remedy the situation.
"I also want to thank our staff for the commitment and professionalism they have demonstrated throughout this time, ensuring that our patients continue to receive the safe, high quality healthcare they deserve.
"Patients who require specialist ventilation are cared for in Ward 4B which is a fully HEPA-filtered ward.
"As a further precaution we introduced mobile HEPA filters in Ward 4C in January as part of our control measures when we were investigating infections at that time.
"We welcome the opportunity to discuss these actions with the Health and Safety Executive when we meet them in the New Year."
Under Scottish health technical memoranda, general wards do not require to undergo the critical system verification required in the notice.
The improvement notice comes after NHSGGC was escalated to stage four of the NHS Board Performance Framework by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman - the second highest level of Scottish Government intervention - in November following its response to an infection scandal.
Concerns about the water supply at the hospital were raised after it emerged 10-year-old cancer patient Milly Main died after contracting an infection in August 2017.
Earlier this month it also clarified the deaths of two further patients at the Royal Hospital for Children - which is part of the same site - were not linked to infections acquired at the hospital.
However, the health board is due to start court proceedings against construction firm Brookfield Multiplex.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We are aware that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has received a Notification of Contravention Letter and an Improvement Notice from the Health and Safety Executive.
"We have been clear that we expect the Board to address any identified breaches as a matter of urgency and provide detailed evidence to demonstrate that remedial action has been taken."
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