Glasgow Live today:

Taxpayers could face a bill of up to £170 million to repair Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus. The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) and adjoining Royal Hospital for Children have been at the centre of a major infection scandal since opening in 2015.

The Mail on Sunday has reported that an estimated £120m of further rectification work is now required, on top of around £50m already spent, according to internal documents obtained through Freedom of Information legislation.

Source: https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottish-news/26448700.taxpayers-face-170m-bill-repairs-glasgow-qeuh/

Why would it matter when NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board approved the completion of the hospital? It was entirely their responsibility to oversee the chief executive and make sure the project was completed on time.

How many SNP politicians were on the board? None. How many Labour politicians were on the board in 2015? Nine.

The board operated within Glasgow City Council‘s territory and it was then still a Labour-run council.

Say the Scottish Government was pushing for the hospital to open on time, can you imagine a Labour Council giving in to that? They hate the SNP.

Is there any reliable evidence that the Scottish Government did apply pressure?

The most relevant and independent voice is Fred Mackintosh KC, senior counsel to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry.

He stated there was “no evidence of external pressure” from the Scottish Government or other outside entities to open the hospital prematurely.

Even more revealing:

Health board bosses involved in the opening of the hospital had not provided evidence of ‘pressure either from them or from anyone else’ for the campus to open early. […] So there’s pressure in the sense that it would be a good idea to meet the target because otherwise it will be difficult for everybody, there will be failures, but we didn’t detect in the evidence pressure to open it earlier than was planned.

Difficult for everybody? The nine Labour members of the board?

Finally, when did the board inform the Scottish Government of concerns about the water supply? 2018, three years after opening.

Sources:

1. https://www.facebook.com/heraldscotland/posts/breaking-political-pressure-was-applied-to-open-glasgows-troubled-queen-elizabet/1320950943385560
2. https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,political-pressure-pushed-glasgow-hospital-to-open-to-early-minutes-say and https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/home-news/john-swinney-scottish-government-scottish-labour-glasgow-msps-b2910168.html
3. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20kxwej11o
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clygg3rr371o