Did Scotland’s top nurse suggest paying off grieving families with trip to Disneyland?published at 12:34 GMT
12:34 GMT
It has been reported that Scotland’s former chief nursing officer suggested that families who lost loved ones during a hospital infections scandal could have been paid off with £50,000 – which she said was the equivalent of “a trip to Disneyland”.
Fiona McQueen oversaw infection strategies at a troubling time for Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus – when patients died after contracting infections, possibly linked to problems with water and ventilation systems.
The Scotsman, external reported that McQueen made the comments during a meeting in 2019 with prominent whistleblowers who helped exposed the scandal, as well as then health secretary, Jeane Freeman.
In evidence to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, one of the whistleblowers described how she had updated McQueen on her concerns, to which McQueen said she couldn’t understand “why GGC (the health board) had not just
offered the families 50 grand which is a trip to Disneyland, rather than deny
that there had been harm caused”.
The doctor, Christine Peters, said she was “appalled by the sentiment” and that it “missed the point” that there were safety hazards.
McQueen retired from nursing shortly after this and is now chair of the Scottish Police Authority.