Molly Cuddihy, 23, died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in August after she became seriously ill with a hospital acquired infection.
The dad of a woman who died after she became seriously ill with a hospital acquired infection as a teenager said Scotland’s biggest health board was “warned for years” about problems with a major hospital’s water system.
Molly Cuddihy, 23, from Gourock, Inverclyde died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in August last year. In 2018 she developed septic shock while receiving cancer treatment at the same hospital campus, which is now at the centre of a public inquiry into safety issues. Her death is being examined by prosecutors.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) had repeatedly rejected accusations that bacteria in the water at the country’s flagship hospital was the cause for some infections which led to patients’ deaths.
But in closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, the health board said it was likely there was a “causal connection” between infections suffered by patients and “the hospital environment, in particular the water system”.
Molly was 15 when she was diagnosed with metastatic Ewing sarcoma. Molly’s father, John Cuddihy, said concerns about the water supply were first raised in 2018. He said all his daughter wanted was official acknowledgement that there was an issue with the hospital’s water system.
John told BBC Scotland News: “Because the impact of the antibiotics – which would be administered to leprosy patients – were so strong, were given over a prolonged period of time, they had a material impact on the reduced kidney function, on her liver function on her overall body and living experience.
“Her quality of life was reduced and it had a devastating impact on her.
“I am in no doubt that Molly’s quality of life was further eroded as a result of the bacteria. Absolutely no doubt.”
The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry will this week hear oral submissions and Cuddihy hopes patients will be at the heart of the proceedings. He said this would include annual, validated checks to hospital ventilation and water systems.
In 2021, Molly Cuddihy, then aged 19, gave evidence to the inquiry. She told the inquiry she experienced “frightening” fits that were linked to a hospital acquired infection.
The probe was launched to examine mistakes made in the planning, design and construction of the QEUH campus following concerns about unusual infections and the deaths of four patients.
Those included 10-year-old Milly Main, who died after contracting the stenotrophomonas bacteria while undergoing treatment for leukaemia in 2017.
A separate corporate homicide investigation into the deaths of Milly, two other children and 73-year-old Gail Armstrong was launched in 2021.
A spokesperson for NHSGGC said it was supporting the inquiry while the Scottish government said it would be “inappropriate to comment”.
