Queen Elizabeth University Hospital: case note review - overview report

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful for the information, advice and support we have received from the many people with whom we have been in contact, directly and indirectly, in undertaking our Review and delivering this Report.

Many staff at NHS GGC have been involved in locating and collating data, sourcing and providing documents, and advising on policy and process. We thank them all but would like to acknowledge the coordinating role played by Elaine Vanhegan, Head of Corporate Governance and Administration, through whom so many of our requests, queries and challenges were directed.

We have benefited from the wisdom and advice of members of the NHS GGC Oversight Board, but particularly wish to acknowledge the support of Professor Marion Bain and the active engagement and encouragement of Phil Raines whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the story of the QEUH/RHC has been invaluable in helping us understand so much of the context to our work, and in pointing us to sources of data without intruding on our independence.

We have valued the advice and guidance of Professor Craig White and Professor John Cuddihy who have so carefully helped us understand the needs and sensitivities of the families affected by the infections that resulted in the need for our Review, and who have provided us with a communication link with the families themselves.

Scottish Government staff, including Carole Campariol-Scott, Jim Dryden and, more recently, Martina Fluke and Shalinay Raghavan have provided important support and kept processes moving in the background.

However, this Review and our Report would not have been possible without the skills and commitment shown by the following members of the wider Review Team, who have showed extraordinary commitment to the work involved despite the challenges encountered:

Dr Julie Aitken, Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellow with the Scottish Government in the Office of the CMO and Healthcare Improvement Scotland; ST6 Paediatric Registrar. (Data synthesis and literature review);

Marie Brown, Programme Manager, Programme Management Services, NHS National Services Scotland (Programme management);

Professor Peter Davey, University of Dundee (Clinical data extraction and assessment, and PTT);

Linda Dempster, Infection Prevention and Control Adviser Safety Support, NHS England and NHS Improvement (IPC adviser);

Hayley Kane, Infection Control Manager, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (Telepath and ICNet data extraction);

Emma Mackay, Project Support Officer, Programme Management Services, NHS National Services Scotland (Management support);

Jane McNeish, Senior Nurse Epidemiologist, National ARHAI Scotland (Clinical Epidemiological data extraction);

Dr Fiona Murdoch, Lead Healthcare Scientist, National ARHAI Scotland (Clinical and epidemiological data lead; data analysis and presentation); and

Dr Pat O’Connor, Honorary Professor, University of Stirling, Faculty of Healthcare Sciences and Sport (PTT lead and clinical data extraction).

We thank them for their professionalism, hard work and good humour. Some will continue to work with us as we enter the second phase of our work in delivering individual reports for all families of children included in our Review.