DEADLY WATER SCANDAL 'GOES TO VERY TOP OF SNP'

THE contaminated water scandal at a flagship £842m hospital that led to the deaths of two children goes right "to the very top of the Scottish Government", an MSP claimed last night.

- RICHARD ELIAS

Inquiries are now being held into the deaths of four people, including a ten-yearold cancer patient, at the Queen Elizabeth University in Glasgow (QEUH).

Over the weekend, Scotland's biggest health authority, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGCC), admitted that infections of some patients were probably linked to the water system at the hospital.

Previously, it had denied that bacteria in the water at the campus was to blame.

But as the fall-out from that admission continues to grow, there have been calls made for senior SNP politicians to explain exactly what they knew about the background to the hospital's problems.

At the time that the QEUH opened in April 2015, Nicola Sturgeon was the Health Minister before becoming First Minister, whilst another exHealth Secretary, Shona Robison, and the current First Minister, John Swinney, have also now been caught in the crosshairs of the scandal.

Last night, the Scottish Conservatives' health spokesman, Sandesh Dr Gulhane, described the situation as "the most appalling and disgusting hospital scandal to engulf" the NHS.

Among those who died at the QUEH was ten-year-old Milly Main.

The schoolgirl from Lanark passed away in August 2017 after she picked up a killer bacterial bug from contaminated catheter whilst undergoing leukaemia treatment at the hospital.

Milly's mother, Kimberly Darroch, has been leading the campaign to get justice for her daughter ever since, branding the loss of her girl as "murder".

After the health board's admission, she said: "I've spent six years fighting for answers that should have been given at the the very beginning.

"It is good news the health board has admitted that, on the balance of probabilities, there was a causal connection between the environment and Milly's bloodstream infection.