Exclusive

Patients 'frozen' on Glasgow hospital wards as families bring blankets

Patients families are having to bring in blankets to keep them warm <i>(Image: Image by Katrina_S from Pixabay)</i>
Patients families are having to bring in blankets to keep them warm (Image: Image by Katrina_S from Pixabay)
This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.

Patients say they are "frozen" at a Glasgow hospital after heating issues have forced family members to bring blankets to wards to keep them warm.

Hot water is also "an issue" within the facility, and showers are "frequently out of use."

The Glasgow Royal Infirmary has apologised for any "discomfort" experienced by patients and said it is working to resolve the issues.


READ MORE:


A source told the Glasgow Times: "The medical building has no heating, and has been like this for almost a week."

They've claimed that the patients are "frozen, especially at night."

They continued to say that families have been forced to bring blankets to keep their loved ones warm.

They said: "The patients have family bring in their own fleecy blankets on top of the 3-4 thermal blankets we give them.

"The heating is very temperamental, and I get it's an old building, but the length of time to get things fixed is a joke!"

They added that warm water and showers are frequently out of order: "Hot water is also sometimes an issue, and often the showers are out of use.

"The facilities are really dated, and to get things fixed is just a joke."

The health board has apologised to patients and confirmed that the issues are "being addressed."

Patients 'frozen' on cold Glasgow Royal Infirmary wards (Image: Gordon Terris/Newsquest)

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "While heating is functioning in all areas of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, it was identified that there are two wards experiencing reduced heat performance.

"This is being addressed now. 

"We apologise to anyone who experienced discomfort while this issue was being identified, and, as a temporary measure, we have provided additional electric heaters to help maintain comfortable temperatures until fully resolved. 

"We thank our estates teams who are working with external controls specialists to address this as quickly as possible.

"We also thank our nurses for continuing to ensure patients are comfortable. 

"The hospital has robust water‑management and safety processes in place for showers.

"At times, this means certain rooms or facilities are out of use to allow essential maintenance to be carried out safely."

We reported earlier this month that all potentially life-saving scans at GRI were cancelled because staff had not completed a legally required check.

MRI and CT scan staff were unable to perform their duties this month, resulting in the cancellation of all vital scans.

This was due to the staff, who are understood to work for a private company, not having Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) checks in place.

The PVG scheme is a Scottish membership and disclosure system, run by Disclosure Scotland, designed to prevent people known to be unsuitable from undertaking “regulated roles” with children or protected adults, whether paid or voluntary.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “As soon as the Scottish Government was made aware of an issue, Disclosure Scotland was instructed to prioritise the applications concerned and the issue was resolved quickly with all scanning services fully resuming on Tuesday, 20 January.

 “Although not cleared by Disclosure Scotland, staff working on the mobile MRI scanners did have the English equivalent disclosure check in place.”


Have a story or been affected by this one? Get in touch at donald.erskine@newsquest.co.uk

Get involved
with the news

Send your news & photos