For years they felt stonewalled, lied to and gaslit. Now they’re angry.
Karen Stirrat and Charmaine Lacock are mothers of children they say were exposed to infections while being treated for cancer at Glasgow’s flagship “super hospital”.
They were some of the first parents to voice fears that something in the way the buildings were constructed was inherently unsafe.
Dozens of vulnerable children like theirs with cancer or blood disorders became even more unwell while being treated at the hospital. Some of them died.
Yet for years the body that runs the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus refused to accept evidence that water and ventilation systems could be to blame for infections.
“From the very beginning we campaigned, with other families, and we got slated for that,” says Karen.
“We knew the truth, but we kept getting told we were just imagining things.”
A week ago, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde performed a jaw-dropping U-turn.
The health board, the equivalent of an NHS Trust elsewhere in the UK, now says it accepts that on the “balance of probabilities” the hospital environment, particularly the water system, caused some infections.
In its closing submission to a public inquiry it also admits that:
the hospital opened in 2015 before it was ready
there was “pressure” to deliver the project on time
maintenance in the early years was insufficient
infection control doctors who tried to raise the alarm were badly treated
The belated admissions, which contradict some positions taken by the health board during the six-year inquiry, have been welcomed.
But they have also left parents frustrated – and in some cases furious – that it’s taken so long.
“For them to now backtrack… it’s too little, too late,” Karen says.
“It’s a day of sheer and utter anger at the fact it’s got to this stage.”