A Dundee mum said she was terrified her son was going to die after he was infected by contaminated water at a children’s hospital.
Haley Winter was giving evidence at the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry about the care of her son, Garvie, while he was treated for leukaemia at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.
The inquiry is investigating safety and wellbeing issues at the hospital, part of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus, and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.
The deaths of two children have been linked to the QEUH.
When Garvie, then eight years old, was treated in Glasgow in the Spring of 2018, he was infected by showering in contaminated water.
Giving evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday, mum Haley said she complained about the water during a visit to the hospital.
“When we we arrived at the hospital the second time it stank of s***,” she said.
“I could smell it in the car park and the hospital building.
“It was right next to the sewage works. We were not allowed to use the water and there were filters on all of the taps.
“We were given bottled water to drink.”
Shortly after arriving Garvie had a shower and starting having rigors [severe shivers] not long later.
“He developed a temperature and became unwell,” Haley told the inquiry.
“He was also having seizures and shaking.
“The nurses thought this was to do with the chemotherapy. He had a couple of episodes of this.”
Garvie was ‘so scared’
Haley added: “He was so scared, it was the first time he really told me how scared he was.
“I was lying on his bed next to him and he was frightened.
“He was fine when we arrived and he had been well up to that point, he had
been good in the six months up to this point.
“We had not experienced anything like this.”
Haley said she knew then the water was infected.
She said: “I told the staff that I knew it was the water, it was contaminated.
“I spoke to the staff on the ward and they told me that it was not the water.
“I knew about sewage works nearby and thought it might be connected to that.”
Despite speaking to staff, Haley said she was told there was nothing wrong with the water.
Haley also told the inquiry that no one told her there was anything wrong with the water.
She added: “I had a meeting with infection control the second time we were in.
“It was me and another mum and dad. I told the woman that the water was contaminated.
“She asked me why I thought that and I told her the whole place stank of s***.”
‘I thought he was going to die’
Garvie, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in October 2017 when he was seven years old, was still unwell five days later.
“He still had a temperature,” Haley said.
“He was really unwell – his heart rate dropped and I thought he was going to die.”
“He did say a couple of times that they were killing him and that he was going to die, but generally he just thought they were just trying to make him better.
“It had an emotional effect on me, it was really bad.
“The doctors an nurses didn’t listen and they made me think I was going off my head.
“They really didn’t know what was going on with him so I found it really hard.”
Inquiry continues
Haley became so emotional during the inquiry she had to stop for a break.
She finished by saying that when the problems at the hospital came to light, she was not informed and heard about it through a BBC investigation.
“It was then that one of the mums got in touch and asked me to join a group,” Haley said.
“I was gutted when I saw it.
“I got in touch with one of the other mums and said I wish I’d had the opportunity to speak.
“I did feel vindicated though, that I wasn’t crazy.”
Garvie finished chemotherapy last year and is now in remission.
Both NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian will give evidence during the inquiry.
