Daughter of hospital bug victim urges better inspections

Margaret Dalton, 74, died on December 31 2007 after catching Clostridium difficile, an inquiry into the outbreak heard yesterday.

The bug infected 55 patients between December 2007 and June 2008 at Vale of Leven Hospital in Scotland.

C diff was blamed for nine of the deaths and was said to be a contributory factor in the other nine in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire.

Mrs Dalton's daughter Brenda Bowes said: "At many times I felt that perhaps there wasn't as robust an inspection system as there should have been.

"I hope that a more firm and more robust inspection is put in place. I feel that something has to be done."

Mrs Bowes was giving evidence to the inquiry in Community Central Halls in Maryhill, Glasgow.

She said staffing on the wards was "poor" at times and that staff morale was "low" when she visited her mother in hospital.

"The general opinion from staff was they were being run down and the Vale of Leven would close," she told the inquiry.

She also took home her mother's soiled clothing to wash while she was in hospital. Mrs Bowes said she was given no instructions on how to deal with the clothing and that staff were "very busy" and appeared under stress at times.

Mrs Bowes, a primary school teacher, said the family were worried that C diff was not mentioned on her mother's death certificate because they believed it to be a factor in her death.

Mrs Dalton had non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer, and was admitted to hospital in November 2007, the inquiry heard.

On December 17 she had diarrhoea during a weekend visit to her daughter's home and was later diagnosed with C diff.

She was admitted to the hospital and transferred to a critical care unit in one of the wards.

Mrs Bowes said her mother, who was a "private person" and did not want to trouble the nurses, had to use a "rusty, dirty and quite disgusting" commode during part of her stay.

She also told the inquiry that she had cut her mother's nails while she was in hospital in December 2007, stating: "She usually cut her own but she was too weak, and there was faeces under her fingernails."

The family did not tell staff about the discovery.

Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon ordered the inquiry into the C diff deaths last year.

A one-minute silence was held before the first evidence was heard.

About 15 relatives of patients who died attended yesterday's hearing.

Lord MacLean, who is chairing the inquiry, said: "Over the coming days we will hear from surviving patients and relatives of those affected by the tragic outbreak of C difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

"The process of recalling events will inevitably bring back painful memories for the relatives who lost someone close to them but this is a vital part of the evidence to the inquiry."

Yesterday afternoon, a man interrupted the inquiry and shouted from the public gallery.

He said: "You are liars, all of you. I've heard nothing but lies for four years. My mother's dead."

Lord MacLean told the man to leave, which he did.