Ministers in Scotland are under pressure to remove senior management at a super-hospital in Glasgow which has been blighted with scandals following further discoveries of patient deaths. 

A debate, led by Scottish Labour, took place in Holyrood today calling for the SNP government to sack the leadership of Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH). 

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on MSPs to decide if they were on the side of patients and staff, or a culture of cover-ups and secrecy by managers. 

Images of mould growth, shared ahead of the debate, follow repeated pleas from the loved ones of those who have died from preventable hospital-acquired infections which have been ignored, with a public inquiry now underway. 

Whistleblowers revealed that waterborne bacteria had infected an estimated 84 children at QEUH’s Royal Hospital for Children, including the late Milly Main, 10, who had been in remission from leukaemia.

Three years later, Scottish government official Andrew Slorance also died at the QEUH after cancer treatment and having caught Covid-19 — but had also been treated for an infection caused by the aspergillus fungus, which had not been discussed during his hospital stay.

The health board said it has been “open and honest,” but Mr Slorance’s wife and Milly’s mother Kimberly Darroch say there has been an “erosion of trust” and “continued secrecy.”

Mr Sarwar said: “These are not isolated cases, these are not isolated incidences.

“There is a systemic problem and we’ll only be able to address that systemic problem if we have a leadership that is willing to get a grip of it rather than trying to manage it away.”

Mr Sarwar said workers at the QEUH are being used as a “human shield” to protect Glasgow’s health board over the scandal. 

On Tuesday evening, 23 senior clinicians complained to Nicola Sturgeon about “unfounded criticism” of clinical staff. 

In a letter to the First Minister and Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, they wrote: “As we prepare for a challenging winter, this sustained criticism of our staff is undoubtedly causing them distress and worry.

“This unfounded criticism of our clinical teams and staff, as well as the safety of our hospitals, is also hugely detrimental to staff morale at a time when so much is being asked of them.”

A vote took place after the Star went to press.