The health board had repeatedly rejected bacteria in the water at the country’s flagship hospital was the cause for some infections which led to patients’ deaths.
19:46, 17 Jan 2026Updated 19:48, 17 Jan 2026
Milly and her mum Kimberly Darroch(Image: PA)
Scotland’s biggest health board has admitted issues with its water system probably caused infections in child cancer patients at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) had repeatedly rejected bacteria in the water at the country’s flagship hospital was the cause for some infections which led to patients’ deaths.
But in closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, the health board said it was likely there was a “causal connection” between infections suffered by patients and “the hospital environment, in particular the water system”.
A spokesperson for NHSGGC said it was backing the inquiry while the Scottish Government said it would be “inappropriate to comment,” reports the BBC.
The investigation was launched to look into mistakes made in the planning, design and construction of the QEUH campus following concerns about unusual infections and the deaths of four patients.
Kimberly Darroch with her daughter Milly Main, 10(Image: Handout)
Those included Milly Main, 10, from Lanark, who had been in remission for leukaemia when she was infected with the rare bacteria – Stenotrophomonas maltophilia – and died on August 31, 2017.
Her family believe the bug came from contaminated water at the hospital which caused a line feeding drugs into her body to become infected.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been named as a suspect in a corporate homicide probe into Milly’s death and three others – two other children and 73-year-old Gail Armstrong – which got underway in 2021.
In a closing statement to the Inquiry, NHSGGC said it had been “broadly acknowledged” there was no “definite link between infections and the water system”.
But it said it was “more likely than not” some infections suffered by patients were connected to the hospital’s water supply.
The health board said it was likely there was a “causal connection” between infections suffered by patients and “the hospital environment, in particular the water system”(Image: Getty)
They said: “NHSGGC accepts that, on the balance of probabilities, there is a causal connection between some infections suffered by patients and the hospital environment, in particular the water system.
“It is more likely than not that a material proportion of the additional environmentally relevant BSI [blood stream infections] in the paediatric haemato-oncology population between 2016 and 2018 had a connection to the state of the hospital water system.
“NHSGGC departs from its earlier submissions in this regard, having heard all expert evidence.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We established a statutory public inquiry so that families could get answers to their questions, and so that lessons can be learned for future hospital projects.
“As an independent core participant of the Inquiry, the Scottish government is committed to assisting the Inquiry and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time.”
It comes after almost half of planned surgeries at the £842m QEUH were postponed after a burst pipe temporarily closed theatres last week. Water leakage hit the building’s plant room and affected its power supply on January 9.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed the incident had since been resolved, but while 26 operations were able to go ahead as planned after this issue was fully resolved – 25 more had to be postponed and rescheduled.