A YOUNG girl died after “probably” catching a water-linked bug at Glasgow hospital, a report has revealed.
Tragic Milly Main passed away at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in 2017 aged just ten after she became infected and went into toxic shock.
Her mum Kimberly Darroch said she was “devastated” by the latest verdict as she called on Glasgow health board chiefs to resign.
Milly had been in remission from a fight with leukaemia when her catheter became infected.
A 2019 NHS report found “widespread contamination” in the hospital’s water supply.
Bug caught during treatment at Glasgow super-hospital was cancer-stricken girl’s ‘main cause of death’, review finds
The latest probe stated that Milly’s death was “probably” linked to the “hospital environment” – but added that they could not identify a “specific source”.
Kimberly told the Daily Record: “It was like grieving Milly in a whole new way, knowing her death could have been prevented.
“I always hoped it probably wasn’t true. Deep down in my heart I knew it was, so getting it in black and white, it was a devastating read.”
Asked what should happen next, she added: “It would be that the health board that are in place just now resign. That’s what I want and I think that’s only fair.”
The report into Milly’s death stated: “Based on the information available to us we considered that this infection was probably related to the hospital environment.”
It added: “The fact that Milly had been continuously an inpatient in Ward 2A for seven weeks prior to this infection, also suggests hospital environmental acquisition.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who has raised the case in Holyrood, said: “Why did it take us having to expose this in Parliament?”
"There is something seriously and systematically wrong at the heart of the health board.”
Jane Grant, chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “We continue to offer our sympathies to Milly Main’s family for their loss and are sorry for any additional distress caused.
“This has been a very challenging time for patients, families and staff and I am truly sorry for this. For families, children and young people, undergoing cancer treatment is already an incredibly difficult situation and I am sorry for any further upset they have experienced.
“Whilst we have taken robust and focused action to respond to issues, and at all times have made the best judgements we could, we accept that there are times when we should have done things differently.
“The issues which arise will be part of the Scottish Hospitals Public Inquiry. The Board welcomes the inquiry and will participate fully in that process. We remain committed to supporting patients and their families, particularly those whose lives have been impacted upon by the areas that will be examined by the Public Inquiry.”
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.
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