Bacteria found in flagship hospital ‘not normal’, inquiry told

Bacteria found in a flagship Glasgow hospital within a couple of years of its opening were “not normal”, an inquiry has heard.

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry took evidence on Wednesday from Kathleen Harvey-Wood, who worked as a clinical scientist in the microbiology unit of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) from 2015 to her retirement in 2023.

She told the inquiry infections started to climb from the hospital’s opening in 2015.

She said rates of “positive blood cultures” – blood tests that showed the presence of bacteria – among the haematology-oncology patients she was responsible for increased “year on year”.

The inquiry was shown graphs depicting an upward trend in positive blood culture rates, with peaks of 26.7% in April 2017 and 26% in March 2018.

My concern was that we were seeing mixed bacteria, two or three different bacteria in a blood culture

She said this was a “striking difference” from a rate of “about 9%” at the former Yorkhill hospital, where she worked before moving to QEUH, and the target rate of “around 5%”.

As well as the number of positive blood cultures, the scientist described the variety of organisms that were being found in blood cultures as a “concern”.

She told the inquiry there was an increase in the number of cultures containing more than one organism, and that they were finding more “gram negative” organisms originating in the hospital environment.

She explained in her written statement: “My concern was that we were seeing mixed bacteria, two or three different bacteria in a blood culture.

“That means that if a patient has three or four different bacteria in their circulatory bloodstream then it’s from their (intravenous) line infection.”

She added that some of the gram negative organisms being discovered were “unusual”, and staff were having to look them up as it was the first time they had encountered them.

The experienced scientist explained: “Some of them I hadn’t heard of before in all my experience in microbiology, it was the first time I’d come across these gram negatives.

“So there’s a few of them even I had to look at the literature and do some research on.”

The inquiry heard one of the organisms found in three patients, called Elizabethkingia miricola, was originally identified in the International Space Station and comes from “environmental water”.

Ms Harvey-Wood said when she and other colleagues in the microbiology team tried to raise concerns about the organisms they were finding, managers tried to “play it down”.

For me, it sounded like we were being told, ‘no we don’t have a problem, so we don’t need to fix it'

She recounted one meeting on August 14, 2019 where she was told by a senior colleague that “what we were seeing was normal”.

She continued: “I’ve used the word ‘normal’ very often just generally, but I was told by someone that 40 positive blood cultures a month was normal, and I said, ‘but what about the diversity of these organisms, that is not normal?’

“For me, it sounded like we were being told, ‘no we don’t have a problem, so we don’t need to fix it.’

“I was concerned they did not want to admit they had a problem and take action, because if you change and make corrective actions then you’re admitting there’s an issue.”

The inquiry is currently investigating the construction of the QEUH campus, which includes the Royal Hospital for Children.

It was launched in the wake of deaths linked to infections, including that of 10-year-old Milly Main.

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) spokesman said: “These matters are to be explored in the ongoing inquiry and while NHSGGC continues to co-operate with the inquiry, it would be inappropriate to comment on this at this time.”

The inquiry continues.

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