News Story

The health board said this week `pressure´ had been applied to open the flagship Glasgow facility.

Scotland’s First Minister has been urged to release all documents relating to the opening of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said this week there was evidence the facility opened too soon, telling the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry “pressure was applied to open the hospital on time and on budget”.

Last week, the board accepted there may have been a “causal connection” between the hospital environment and infections which were linked to deaths.

On Wednesday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and his deputy Dame Jackie Baillie urged John Swinney to release all documentation relating to the Glasgow hospital.

In a letter sent to the First Minister and Health Secretary Neil Gray, the pair who this week called for a criminal investigation into the situation at the hospital said: “We maintain the belief that ministerial conduct during this process could have breached a criminal threshold and should be investigated by the proper authorities.

“You have rejected these calls.

“This is a simple invitation to prove that is not the case by sharing vital evidence publicly.

“The public has a right to know what ministers knew, when they knew it, and what actions were taken.

“This is about more than one hospital. It is about a culture in public bodies that too often protects the institution rather than the people it exists to serve.

“Families deserve answers. They deserve accountability. And they deserve justice.

“The question is simple: will you finally do the right thing, and release the communications Scotland has waited too long to see?”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Tories have pushed for former first minister Nicola Sturgeon to make a personal statement in Holyrood on the scandal.

Ms Sturgeon was health secretary when the hospital was commissioned and first minister when it opened.

Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane urged her to “come clean”, though there have been no direct allegations against the former first minister.

“This flagship hospital was opened just weeks before the 2015 general election, despite concerns over its water supply,” he said.

“A number of patients, including 10-year-old Milly Main, subsequently lost their lives.

“If Nicola Sturgeon leaned on NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde bosses to push this hospital over the line for political gain, that would be utterly unforgivable.

“The health board claim that pressure was applied and the hospital opened too soon. This had very grave consequences.

“Nicola Sturgeon has a duty to explain her role in this to bereaved families, rather than display the trademark secrecy and cover-up that we saw from her during the ferries scandal and the Covid inquiry.”