The outgoing boss of Scotland’s biggest healthboard was accused of trying to manipulate an report into links between patient deaths and the building of a flagship hospital.
The allegations against NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde chief executive Jane Grant have prompted calls for an investigation by Scottish Labour.
Child cancer expert professor Mike Stevens pointed the finger at her during a public inquiry last week for “trying to turn the screw on me” when he was investigating a spate of infections at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).
He was speaking at the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry when he said the NHS boss attempted to persuade him to change the findings of his report which was looking at whether there was any link between 118 infections in patients and the hospital environment.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, said the revelations were a concern.
She said: “Every new testimony about QEUH only underlines a disturbing culture of secrecy that only served to put patients at risk.
“Throughout the QEUH scandal the Health Board’s leadership has attempted to frustrate the process, deny transparency and answers to families and also attempted to silence and bully NHS whistleblowers and mislead the public.
“Professor Stevens was commissioned to lead a review precisely because of his independence, so any suggestion that he was pressured to change his report is deeply worrying.
“The SNP government needs to investigate his allegations and hold those who have overseen this scandal responsible.”
Grant is yet to appear as a witness at the public inquiry which is looking at the construction of the £842m superhospital in Glasgow and its connection to a string of rare infections in patients being treated there.
Speaking last Wednesday Professor Stevens said he had received a letter from Grant in March 2021 after he finished his review of 118 cases of infection. The review found some of the infections were probably caused by bugs linked to the hospital environment which the health board had previously denied.
Asked what he did with the letter he said: “I didn’t really do anything with it. I just felt rather cross… There was no necessity to write this letter.
“It made me feel that this was a further nudge to us to move our final written report in the direction they wished it to go.
“I could be challenged on this [but] it made me feel ‘Here is someone who is trying to turn the screw on me’.”
Asked who he meant, he said: “ Jane Grant.”
The expert said: “To get a letter 24 hours after we had a meeting with a high cast of GGC management reiterating points, re-emphasising points and trying to illustrate the points about the behaviour of microbiologists… I could only think of one reason for doing it which was to encourage us to think differently.”
Grant is set to retire as the chief of NHSGGC after seven years in the job with her replacement – Professor Jann Gardner, Chief Executive of NHS Lanarkshire – taking over in February 2025.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokeswoman said: “NHSGGC will continue to support the Inquiry to fully establish the facts. Our staff have contributed extensively to the Inquiry and will continue to do so if called.
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