Glasgow hospital boss ‘dropped the ball’ on contamination risk

Mr Powrie told the inquiry his bosses decided on the option of retaining the taps and putting in a management process.

He proposed a “system exchange” process where the taps would be taken away to be sanitised at 70C, a process that would take three minutes, with another sanitised tap put in its place while this was happening.

However by 2018 this had not been put into practice.

Mr Powrie also told the inquiry that in 2018 he and colleagues realised there were “systemic” problems with the water system after medical staff started to see positive results from patients in bloodstream tests.

A water technical group was set up to investigate the issues and it was decided to dose the water system with chemicals to address the problem.

The inquiry also heard Mr Powrie often felt he and his team were “firefighting” as they dealt with issues after the hospital opened in 2015, including blockages causing sewage discharges into wards and faults with the pneumatic transport system used to deliver samples from wards to laboratories.

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) spokesperson said: “It would not be appropriate for NHSGGC as a core participant to the inquiry to comment on an individual’s evidence as it is heard given that there is more evidence to be heard.”

The inquiry, which is being held in Edinburgh, continues.