The mum of a 10 year-old girl who died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, in Glasgow, has called for wards to be closed at the hospital after photos of mould in a clinical area were published.

Kimberly Darroch, whose daughter, Milly Main, died after contracting an infection at the hospital, said it was unbelievable in such a new facility.

She said: “I was absolutely disgusted by the photographs that I saw this morning.

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“Either the hospital is closed or the wards moved until the areas are sorted.

“It’s beyond belief that a hospital that has just been built is in such a state.”

Glasgow Times:

Louise Slorance, whose husband, Andrew, died at the hospital after contracting a fungal infection, aspergillus, said: “That is not safe for the patients that they are looking after. We need to protect the patients that are there today and the patients that will be there tomorrow.

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“The insides of the hospital need to be ripped out to make sure there’s no mould in that building or any other.”

The health board said the photos were at least two years old.

A spokesman said: "We would like to make clear that photographs included in a release published by the Scottish Labour Party yesterday, and which were published by some media outlets this morning, are not recent as has been suggested, but are all historical images.

"The images date from as early as 2017 and none was taken later than December 2019.

"The release from Scottish Labour carried two images and relates to an academic paper which was itself published in February 2021.

"That paper contains a third picture and, for clarity, that image relates to another, older building on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus and not to the new hospital."

Ms Darroch and Ms Slorance were speaking as MSPs debated calls for the Health Board leadership to be sacked after a number of deaths linked to infections at the hospital.

Glasgow Times:

Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “How many more deaths is it going to take before this government loses confidence in the leadership of this health board.”

Public Health Minister, Maree Todd, said: “Serious concerns have been raised about aspergillus.”

She added: “Where there are concerns all will be investigated and acted on.”

Responding to the photos of mould in a haematology ward the health board said no harm was caused.

Glasgow Times:

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "We have always been open about the technical issues that we have detected in our hospitals and we are currently pursuing the contractors through a legal process for costs and damages. We have a detailed programme of ongoing planned and proactive maintenance in place to ensure ongoing patient safety.

"Across our entire hospital estate, if there is water ingress, our highly skilled staff work to remedy faults as soon as they are found. We take active steps when leaks are identified to look for mould growth around affected areas. If there is any evidence of mould, we would immediately take steps to remove it with full infection prevention and control oversight.

"The academic paper published early this year acknowledges that this happens in hospitals every day and makes clear that no patient harm was caused in the scenarios described." 

Labour’s motion was defeated 64 to 54.