Issue with taps at flagship hospital not addressed for three years, inquiry told

A process to sanitise taps was not introduced for three years at a hospital where concerns about the water system later emerged, an inquiry has heard.

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry was told concerns were raised about flow regulators in taps following an outbreak of illness among young babies in Northern Ireland , some of whom died, and guidance recommended they should be removed.

The inquiry is currently investigating the construction of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus in Glasgow, which includes the Royal Hospital for Children, after issues at the flagship site were linked to the deaths of two children.

Ian Powrie, sector estates manager for south Glasgow at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde from September 2015 to January 2017 and then deputy general manager for estates services, told the inquiry “systemic” problems with the water system were discovered in 2018.

The site had around 2,500 Horne taps, which deliver water at a safe temperature to reduce the risk of scalding.

Mr Powrie, who retired in 2019, told the inquiry: “Health Protection Scotland guidance said that all flow regulators or straighteners should be removed as a safety precaution.

“I looked into that in partnership with Horne to say this is an edict that has come out and we need to apply and they said you can’t do that on these taps, the regulator performs three different tasks, if you take them away you defeat the function of the tap.

“I raised this with the project team and that created a problem because obviously the guidance was saying one thing, we had a site that had been fitted out with these taps that couldn’t be modified and it would affect the project programme.”

He was asked to set up a meeting with the manufacturers, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) and Health Facilities Scotland.

Between 2015 and 2018 the problem which had been identified in 2015 simply was not addressed

Mr Powrie said: “The outcome of the meeting was that HPS came back with the same opinion, that the regulator was still a point of risk and should be removed and gave three options of how that could be achieved on our project.

“One of the options was carry on as you are and manage the process. The other options were basically the same in different versions – remove the taps and put something else in.”

He told the inquiry his bosses decided on the option of retaining the taps and putting in a management process.

He proposed a “system exchange” process whereby the taps would be taken away to be sanitised at 70C, a process that would take three minutes, with another sanitised tap put in its place while this was happening.

However by 2018 this had not been put into practice.

Lord Brodie, chairman of the inquiry, said: “In 2015 there was a question as to whether Horne taps should be used because of the experience in the Belfast hospital.

“The issue was that this particular tap design was associated with accumulation of infection.

“This was recognised in Glasgow in 2015.”

He went on: “In 2015 you proposed a solution, a means of sanitising which would have involved removal the tap taking them to a workshop and run through water at 70C. That did not happen for a number of reasons.

“Between 2015 and 2018 the problem which had been identified in 2015 simply was not addressed,” to which Mr Powrie agreed.

Mr Powrie also told the inquiry that in 2018 he and colleagues realised there were “systemic” problems with the water system after medical staff started to see positive results from patients in bloodstream tests.

A water technical group was set up to investigate the issues and it was decided to dose the water system with chemicals to address the problem.

The inquiry also heard Mr Powrie often felt he and his team were “firefighting” as they dealt with issues after the hospital opened in 2015, including blockages causing sewage discharges into wards and faults with the pneumatic transport system used to deliver samples from wards to laboratories.

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) spokesperson said: “It would not be appropriate for NHSGGC as a core participant to the inquiry to comment on an individual’s evidence as it is heard given that there is more evidence to be heard.”

The inquiry, taking place in Edinburgh , continues.