Labour to stage Holyrood vote urging disclosure of hospital communications
The party is lodging a motion calling on SNP ministers to publish and preserve all records connected to the handling of infection at the facility.
Scottish Labour is set to hold a parliamentary vote on Wednesday to pressure the Scottish Government to authorise the immediate full disclosure on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital scandal.
The party is lodging a motion calling on ministers to publish and preserve all records connected to contaminated water, the ventilation system, and what it says was the “premature opening” of the hospital, and subsequent communications relating to the handling of infection.
The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, which heard closing submissions last week, examined the design and construction of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children, which are on the same campus in Glasgow.
It was launched in the wake of deaths linked to infections, including 10-year-old Milly Main in 2017.
Scottish Labour has also requested information from the SNP on if any emails, texts, letters, documents and other records from this time, including relevant WhatsApps and other messages, have been deleted.
Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “What happened at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is the single biggest scandal in the history of devolution.
“Families seeking answers have been blocked at every turn by powerful people trying to protect themselves – and whistleblowers have been intimidated and bullied for doing the right thing.
“The culture of secrecy and cover-up must end, and those responsible must be held to account.
“People have died and their families deserve the truth – and they deserve it urgently.”
When the hospital was opened in 2015, Nicola Sturgeon was first minister, John Swinney was her deputy and the finance secretary, and Shona Robison was health secretary.
During First Minister’s Questions last Thursday, First Minister John Swinney indicated he would be willing to publish relevant documents.
Scottish Labour said it will request the information again during the debate.
Mr Sarwar continued: “John Swinney has failed to come clean about what the SNP Government knew, when it knew it, and what role it played in the premature opening of this hospital.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant. John Swinney and his ministers must publish and preserve all their communications from that time, so we can establish once and for all whether it was negligence or criminal incompetence that got us here.”
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.
