Health chiefs paid £75,000 for report that 'cleared' them

Taxpayers' cash spent on review of hospital infection scandal

- BY HANNAH RODGER

NHS chiefs have been criticised after it emerged they paid £75,000 of public money for a controversial report clearing a scandal-hit hospital of links to infection outbreaks.

The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) is at the centre of a public inquiry after dozens of patients became infected with rare bugs.

A government-ordered independent review published in 2021 stated 109 infections in 84 patients had "possible or probable" links to the £842million super-hospital's environment and two children's infections were a probable cause of their death.

But it has now emerged NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) paid £75,000 to commission a report of its own which cleared the hospital of links to any of the infections and even went to court to ensure it was accepted into evidence at the ongoing inquiry.