RUSSELL FINDLAY: NHS scandal goes proper to the highest of presidency…a fish rots from the top down

After years of being lied to and smeared, families who lost loved ones after they acquired infections at Scotland’s flagship hospital can finally see some light in their search for answers and justice.

Two huge developments in the past week have catapulted the Queen

Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) scandal to the top of Scotland’s news and political agenda.

The first was the revelation in last week’s Mail on Sunday that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) were finally willing to admit that contaminated water at the SNP’s flagship £1 billion superhospital caused serious infections in young cancer patients.

The second came in a bombshell closing statement by the health board to the

Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, which was established in 2019 to investigate the issues around the construction of the QEUH campus, as well as Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children.

In reference to the QEUH, it read: ‘Pressure was applied to open the

hospital on time and on budget, and it is now clear that the hospital opened too early. It was not ready.’

Russell Findlay asked John Swinney who had applied pressure to have the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital opened before it was ready

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry was set up in 2019 to investigate issues around the construction of the huge QEUH campus, above, as well as Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children

For the families of those affected, these revelations will have sparked relief and anger in equal measure. Relief that in their fight for the truth and answers, they had finally been formally vindicated – and fury that they and NHS whistleblowers had been treated with contempt by those in authority.

While we must wait for the findings and recommendations of the inquiry’s chair, Lord Brodie, it feels like the dam has burst in the past seven days.

It’s not just health board chiefs who are under scrutiny.

This goes to the top of the SNP government – and not just because ministers are ultimately accountable for the actions of Scotland’s health boards.

Despite NHSGGC’s 11th hour claims last night that any ‘pressures’ to complete the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on time and on budget actually came from within, it seems incredulous that there was no political leaning at all from the party in government.

SNP politicians, including then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, spent much of the 2015 General Election campaign bragging about the shiny new hospital they’d built in Glasgow.

The scheduled opening was ten days before polling day.

It was a campaign gift to the SNP and any delay would have been a public relations disaster.

For those thinking that the timing was purely coincidental, remember this: the 2015 General Election date had been set in stone for years by the coalition government’s Fixed Term Parliament Act.

It wasn’t just called by David Cameron six weeks earlier.

John Swinney denied to me at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday that the pressure came from the Sturgeon government.

But – as the second most senior figure in that administration – he would say that, wouldn’t he?

The First Minister later told journalists that was something for Lord Brodie to determine in his inquiry findings.

Findings which, presumably, will not be published until after May’s Scottish parliament elections.

What unfolded at QEUH has parallels with other recent scandals involving Scotland’s public bodies.

This SNP government presides over a cynical culture defined by arrogance, secrecy and cover-up.

We saw it at the Covid inquiry, with Swinney and Sturgeon’s shameful deletion of WhatsApp messages.

And just two days ago, Scotland’s Information Commissioner announced he was taking legal action against the SNP government for its failure to

produce documents related to the Salmond inquiry.

Sadly, too many public institutions take their lead from the government that funds them.

A fish rots from the head down.