Conservatives welcome apology from Health Board chief

The public apology given by the Chief Executive of Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board in response to the publication of the C. diff report is welcome, if a little late. The Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) which led to such a tragic loss of life occurred on their watch and it is now their responsibility to ensure that a tragedy of this magnitude never occurs again.

The Conservatives have been arguing for a couple of changes in this area that would make such a tragedy less likely in the future. First, we believe that a named individual should have control of enforcing hygiene protocols, so as when instances like this do occur, someone on the ground can answer the questions and be held to account. The Report calls for greater accountability and this proposal would deliver that. Secondly, we believe that hospital-by-hospital HAI figures should be published, rather than the position at present where figures are collected and published on a health board-by-health board basis. The current situation is clearly not sustainable given recent events and patients really do deserve to know just how clean their hospital is.

Local people in the Dumbarton and Vale area have the greatest respect for the staff at our local hospital, who have done a magnificent job in recent years, despite the constant uncertainty about the future of the hospital. The Health Board has a poor track-record in listening to local people, but they could make a start in rebuilding some trust by implementing all the recommendations in this report and ensuring that a tragedy on this scale never happens again.