Relatives of patients who died after infections at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital say planned NHS board mergers risk complicating ongoing inquiries and investigations and demand action rather than more listening.
Campaigning families say merging NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde with other boards could hinder the public inquiry and corporate homicide investigation into infections at QEUH.
Relatives want concrete action and legal safeguards to preserve accountability, not more meetings or repeated listening.
Families who lost loved ones linked to an infection scandal at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) met the new Scottish Health Secretary this week and warned that proposed NHS board mergers "won't make them go away." Their concern: reorganising NHS boards could complicate or delay a long-running public inquiry and a separate corporate homicide investigation tied to deaths at QEUH.
Louise Slorance, who lost her husband Andrew after he was treated at QEUH in 2020, spoke for the group. She said families have been "retelling our stories for nine years" and that six health ministers have already "listened and heard." Her message was blunt: "We don't need more listening, we need action now. We won't go away."
Families issued a statement through lawyers saying they believe the government's planned health board reforms are an attempt to "muddy the water over the QEUH scandal" and expressed deep concern about the future of the corporate homicide investigation.
Health Secretary Angela Constance told the Record she recognised "the deep hurt and trauma families continue to feel" and pointed to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry set up to provide answers. She said the government stands ready to implement the inquiry's recommendations and that she is personally committed to ensuring system-wide change across NHS Scotland when the final report publishes.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) earlier offered a "sincere and unreserved" apology to patients and families affected by the infection scandal and said the hospital is now safe. In its closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, NHSGGC stated it was likely there was a "causal connection" between infections suffered by patients and "the hospital environment, in particular the water system," while also saying it could not definitively link the hospital environment to specific individual cases.
Just months before the inquiry is due to report, Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced plans to reduce the number of mainland NHS boards to two as part of broader public sector reform aimed at saving money. That would likely involve merging NHSGGC with other west-of-Scotland boards. Campaigning families and some politicians worry this timing could affect ongoing legal processes and the transfer of potential criminal liability.
The public inquiry is due to report by the end of the year. Separate criminal investigations remain live, with prosecutors having named the health board as a suspect in a corporate homicide probe. Families want clear assurances about how restructuring will affect investigations, responsibilities, and access to answers.
Concrete items families are seeking
The QEUH scandal involves claims that infections acquired in the hospital environment contributed to deaths. Families pressing for action view organisational change at this stage as a potential risk to accountability and to obtaining clear conclusions about what happened and why.
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