THE mother of a girl who died after contracting an infection at a flagship hospital has said she is “disappointed” a review of infection control concerns has not provided answers over her daughter’s death.
Milly Main, 10, died after contracting an infection while recovering from leukaemia treatment at a children’s cancer ward at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus.
Her mother Kimberly Darroch, 36, said she believes her daughter’s death in August 2017 was “100%” due to contaminated water but she is “still in the dark” about it.
An independent review, published yesterday, found no sound evidence that avoidable deaths have resulted from failures in the design, build, commissioning or maintenance of the QEUH and Royal Hospital for Children (RHC), which is part of the campus.
Ms Darroch said: “I’m disappointed the review hasn’t given us any answers about Milly’s death.
“We weren’t spoken to as part of the review, but we hoped it might help us understand more about why Milly contracted an infection.
“We feel we’re still in the dark.”
She added: “I don’t understand how they can claim there is no evidence linking failures in the hospital design to avoidable deaths.
“I don’t feel the report has restored any trust in the health board.”
Dr Brian Montgomery, one of the authors of the report, said: “We clearly are saddened by what happened to Milly but we were quite clear when our review was set up that we were about looking at the building and construction and if there was a possible risk of infection, not about individual cases or patients, and we were never going to provide the answers Milly’s family and others were looking for.”
The authors said that their review was fully independent.
A public inquiry is to take place to examine issues at the QEUH site and the delayed Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Young People in Edinburgh.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reported Milly’s death to the procurator fiscal in February this year.
The Crown Office said the investigation into the death is ongoing.
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