NHS chiefs held meetings about Milly Main's killer bug weeks before death but failed to tell parents
Health chiefs held emergency meetings about an infection which contributed a 10-year-old girl’s death but failed to tell her parents.
Documents published by the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry show staff met to discuss Milly Main’s infection at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus in Glasgow six weeks before she died.
Milly, from Lanark, had been in remission for leukaemia when she was infected with the rare bacteria – Stenotrophomonas maltophilia – and died on August 31, 2017.
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Her family believe the bug came from contaminated water at the hospital which caused a line feeding drugs into her body to become infected.
Mum Kimberly said she only discovered the name of the bug when she saw it listed on her death certificate. She also claimed staff told her they didn’t know what was causing Milly’s infection or deterioration.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been named as a suspect in a corporate homicide probe into Milly’s death and three others.
Due to the criminal investigation, Milly’s family said they couldn’t comment but a friend of the family told the Sunday Mail: “The health board should be ashamed. They knew all along Milly had Stenotrophomonas maltophilia but didn’t think to inform her family, despite discussing it among themselves for weeks.”
The QEUH is at the centre of a public inquiry after patients, mainly children with cancer, became infected with rare bacteria and some died.
Documents show hospital staff did know the exact bacteria causing Milly’s infection and even called in Health Protection Scotland to ask for advice. They filed an outbreak report, called a HIIORT, due to the severity of the case on July 26, 2017 – five weeks before Milly died.
The report states two patients were infected with the bacteria and classed the situation as “red”, the most serious, due to Milly’s life-threatening condition.
It also states staff were planning to start “parental education” about infection control and hygiene on July 31, which Milly’s family said never happened.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “This latest revelation shows the extent that the health board leadership was willing to go to in order to keep the family in the dark.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “While NHSGGC continues to co-operate with the inquiry, it would be inappropriate to comment on this at this time.”
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