Andrew Slorance, a 49-year-old senior Scottish Government official, tragically lost his life to Covid-19 at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow on December 5, 2020.
Mr. Slorance, a father-of-five from Edinburgh, was under treatment for Mantle Cell Lymphoma, which severely affected his immune system. Despite his already compromised health, he was moved multiple times within the hospital, including to a ward of Covid-19 patients, subsequently testing positive for the disease. This was revealed during the ongoing Scottish Hospitals Inquiry investigating the construction of the QEUH campus.
Mr. Slorance’s widow, Louise Slorance, participated in the inquiry, expressing her concern about the contradictory policies such as shifting a severely compromised patient between various wards, one of them being a general Covid-19 ward. Mrs. Slorance shockingly described her husband as a ‘dead man walking,’ due to the heightened risk of infection he was placed under.
Further evidence pointed towards potential co-infection, possibly Aspergillus, as indicated on a CT scan, which unfortunately was not followed up upon, either during his treatment or post-mortem examination. These allegations form part of an array of medical negligence instances, such as an alleged overdose, missed antibiotic treatments, inadequate communication, and failure to inform the patient about potential ventilation—all adding to the devastating scenario faced by Mr. Slorance.
Attempting to unearth more information about her husband’s treatment, Mrs. Slorance sought subject access requests but claims to have been denied a meeting when asking for lawyer or politician accompaniment. The pain of the grieving widow didn’t end there. Astonishingly, she reports her social media accounts being monitored by NHSGCC, HIS, and the Scottish Government—an act she felt was an invasion of her privacy.
The widow of another cancer patient, Tony Dynes, also testified during the same inquiry, disclosing the rapid decline of her husband following a therapy session. Mrs. Dynes questioned the credibility of the hospital’s claim that Tony’s death was purely due to cancer—speculating that undisclosed factors might have contributed to it.
Gail Armstrong is a third patient whose unfortunate death was associated with the potential fungal infection, Cryptococcus. Gail’s daughter, Beth, expressed her disappointment with the biased assumptions and unsupportive remarks made by the hospital, thereby impeding the family’s search for the real cause of her mother’s death—a situation she described as ‘wearing them down.’
NHSGGC has refuted all allegations, reaffirming the safety of their hospitals. They highlighted their performance in terms of healthcare-acquired infections, claiming it to be better than other boards across Scotland. They also asserted that mortality rates on the hospital campus are consistent with or lower than the Scottish average. As the inquiry continues, they pledged their continued support in establishing facts, concluding their statement with sympathies for all those affected.