From BBC Scotland in the last few minutes, the above puzzling choice of headline and buried in their report:
NHSGGC offers an unreserved apology for the distress and trauma experienced by patients and families during this time. But while the health board acknowledged a casual [sic] connection to increased infections, he stressed that there was no definite link between the hospital environment and specific individual cases of infection.
The above assertion is the key outcome of today’s session. To be clear, the health board is not accepting responsibility for any of the high profile cases, including that of Millie Mae, whose death has been cynically exploited by Anas Sarwar for nearly ten years.
Why is the health board so firm in it’s position on this?
A large body of evidence shows that many (often the majority) of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) originate from the patient’s own microbial flora colonizing sites like the skin, gut, nose, or respiratory tract at the time of admission. This reflects a historical shift where improved infection control has reduced exogenous (cross-transmission) sources, making endogenous [already in the patient] ones predominant today.
This does not, of course, prove that any of these high profile cases arrived already infected but nor does it suggest with any authority that they did not. Consequently, it would be wrong for any inquiry to find against the hospital, in the absence of definitive proof.
Sources for the above:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 