The Health Protection Scotland report contains some important caveats and a call for caution. Neither word, nor the warnings they make, appear in the media reports:
It is not possible to determine whether changes in episodes are confounded by changes in the patient population and their underlying medical conditions.
So, simply put, the alleged spike in infections may be as much the result of more children coming in already infected as of more becoming infected after being admitted.
In the monthly analysis of environmental bacteria positive blood cultures, the numbers are small and should be treated with caution. (p21)
The increases are statistically insignificant and becoming in 2019 almost nil.
Way down the page the BBC Scotland report admits:
The Health Protection Scotland analysis said that over the four-year period blood data for the Royal Hospital for Children was “broadly consistent” with other large children’s hospitals in Scotland.
So, there was no story in the first place, really?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-50558136
Click to access 2_review-of-nhsggc-paediatric-haemato-oncology-data.pdf
What the Health Board pointed out:
- One occasion when the number of infections linked to environmental organisms was greater than expected for this group of patients (Table 5). The period in question was June 2018 which was already being investigated by the infection control team and was identified as being potentially linked to the water supply.
- At no other time between 2013 and 2019 did the rate of infections linked to environmental organisms exceed the upper range of expected levels. This includes 2016 and 2017.
- An increase in Gram negative infections (including both environmental and enteric, i.e. intestinal infections) was noted in 2017 however this remained within expected levels for the unit. During this time there was an investigation into the possibility that two of these cases may have been linked which was later confirmed not to be the case. This investigation was reported to HPS as per mandatory guidance.
- Since the move to Ward 6A and 4B in September 2018, infection rates have been similar to other Scottish paediatric units.
- For a particular group of infections, known as gram positive infections, the rates have fallen and are now lower than elsewhere in Scotland.
- No single source of ‘exposure’ of infections has been identified across the six year period.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
… And, if we had a responsible broadcaster, they would give blanket coverage to this to allay people’s fears, that they induced in the first place.
Radio Scotland is too busy selling us 5G, a reserved matter so we don’t get a choice, at the moment to bother.
Something else I’d forgotten to comment about a while ago John, Wings had put up the latest videos of the documentary on the investigation into PFI deals, but his readership has somewhat declined and I had wanted to alert people to it, so I was just reminded of it by some more chat there:
Exposing PFI deals, North Ayrshire schools PPP (the only game in town 2):
The original documentary ‘The Only Game in Town’:
The new documentary really demonstrates how insidious these dodgy deals are – there is collusion at all levels of government. But the most interesting thing to note is the involvement of Linda Evans ,,,
Surely there should be an investigation into her involvement, criminal investigation? Why isn’t she going through the courts, instead of getting her contract extended? This is not a person you want in charge of your civil service, whatever her political viewpoints (which she shouldn’t have).
I would really really like to see an outcry regarding her involvement in this.
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Leslie Evans? Can you clarify what her involvement is?
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Leslie Evans, sorry been under the weather lately and getting all sorts of things mixed up, and it was a while ago I watched this. I’ll need to watch it again to make sure I have it right, but what I remember from it was that she was signing off on the contracts as all above-board, i.e.following the competition laws. Obviously she wasn’t permanent secretary then, so I need to check. But the point is, or will be when I actually I give you the information, that someone so ethically compromised should not be in a position to alter our lives. There should be urgent questions on all the people involved that have now got to high and influential positions (that is, if they are still working in the public sector, they should not be).
I was starting backwards on this, and just looking up what her role is just now:
…”the Permanent Secretary is the principal policy adviser to the First Minister and Secretary to the Scottish Cabinet”
…”As the principal accountable officer for the Scottish Government, Leslie is personally responsible to the Scottish Parliament for the exercise of her responsibilities. This includes the management of the Scottish Government’s £42.5 billion budget and the economic, efficient and effective use of all related resources.”
…”Leading more than 6,500 civil servants”…”Leslie supports the development, implementation and communication of government policies. This work is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Code, upholding its four core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.”
Those are just extracts from the scottish government website:
https://www.gov.scot/about/how-government-is-run/civil-service/permanent-secretary/
I am fairly unhappy that anyone with any kind of question mark over their integrity or honesty has this much power.
Let me do a bit of digging – a timeline of her career would be interesting, and I’ll actually pinpoint her involvement. It really is a good documentary though – quite shocking – so do have a watch.
[From wings comments today:
“Tinto Chiel says:
28 January, 2020 at 7:14 pm
@Ian Brotherhood 4.14: thanks for that expose of North Lanarkshire council, from a real journalist.
A £1,000,000 a month paid by the council to three offshore companies for the construction of four schools as a result of Labour’s PPP/PFI dodgy accounting practices, inspired perhaps by The Creature from The Crypt, aka Gordon Brown.
Wow! That Leslie Evans gets around. Where is she now, I wonder?”]
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The problem for people working in education and health in Scotland is that the British establishment in Scotland and it’s press pack are continually seeking to use perceived failures to undermine the Scottish government.
Once we become a normal independent country,much of this nonsense will be replaced with real news instead of British state propaganda.
There is a big difference between holding the executive to account and actively seeking it’s overthrow.
If they tried this sort of thing in England,or any other independent country,the editors and owners would be feeling the heat.
Looking forward to having a free press in Scotland once we are liberated from London rule.
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Contrary – write a shorter simpler account for me to post?
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Okay, I’ll TRY. You know what I’m like being brief. I got it wrong about Leslie Evans signing anything – she is implicated in the dealings, no hard evidence. I’ve spent a while being distracted there, so I’ve given myself a 30 minute writing deadline, so it should be brief,,, or not, sigh.
In The Only Game in Town 2 : The Cover Up, we are given a brief review of the investigation presented in the first documentary from 2017/18 – in 2005 a contract was signed by North Ayrshire Council (NAC) for a PPP/PFI deal to build 4 schools. The council is now paying £1million a MONTH to pay this debt, and will be until about 2038. Expensive schools. There were concerns amongst councillors about lack of transparency and procedures, so a police investigation was launched in 2006 and they ‘found no criminality’. The first documentary found enough evidence to place doubt on the legality of the bidding procedure (one of the competitors was obviously a shell company just invented at the time and lied on its application) – so no competition was really there – and strong doubt that any police investigation had taken place.
This documentary (only about 35 mins): NAC councillors put forward a motion, to have a new police investigation, on 28 Feb 2018. The Chief Executive Elma Murray and Councillor Joe Cullinane appear to collude (video record) to avoid an investigation but the motion is passed. Elma requests an investigation but police Scotland refuses.
Campbell Martin (the reporter investigating here) puts in a FOI to police Scotland for documents relating to the 2006 inquiry – there is a whole heap of lies and wriggling out of things here, so something is not right. Eventually he received 4 out of 11 documents, that they said didn’t exist, but they were so heavily redacted they were useless. (You really have to wonder what it said to need such redaction – this is a public procurement case, not an assassination!)
So, how the PPP/PFI deal worked in 2005: there was a NAC Project Board, but it was made up of only 3 elected councillors, the rest were unelected council officials and civil servants from the Scottish executive – the Financial Partnership Unit (FPU). It appears that the main body of the council had little control or say over the PPP deal they were meant to sign off on – one councillor David O’Neill asked to see the contract, and a council official Jim Tulips (I am not sure about the name here) said it was for the eyes of the project board only – that is, they had no idea what they were signing up to or how much it would cost! The initial cost was £80m+, after the contract was signed it was £107m+, it is now estimated at £395m+ total. Mostly all going to large tax-avoiding companies, and a German bank.
Turns out it was the FPU from the Scottish executive that was running things. An FOI revealed an email from 25 July 2005 from Jane Broderick (a reasearcher in the civil service) to Sandy Rosie (who was the senior official in charge of the FPU) asking about a meeting, re NAC PPP deal, between a civil servant – Leslie Evans – and the Chief Executive of NAC. Rosie’s reply was that the FPU was ‘handling business in this case’ and ‘the less said to the council the better!’.
I haven’t had time to look at what Sandy Rosie is doing now – he was obviously high up then, and questioned in committee meetings, along with Tom McCabe MSP, in 2005. There is a definite lack of info online regarding PPP deals. I am not sure of Leslie Evans position at the time, but she was obviously fairly high up as she was going around checking on councils in 2003 (isle of Bute minutes of a meeting, which I’ve lost the link to). The main thing here is that if she can be linked to unethical practices – misleading councils, councillors and the tax-payer – costing us millions in the process, as well as keeping silent on illegal practices (or part of them? No evidence of that, so far) – then she should not be in the position she is in.
Civil service code: upholding values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Who knew eh?
The police – well, I don’t know who still has a position of influence, but that needs seriously looked at.
This should be the minutes of an audit committee in 2005 with by Sandy Rosie as a witness (I haven’t read it and is likely boring, and please check the link is the right one):
https://archive.parliament.scot/business/committees/finance/or-05/fi05-1102.htm
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