NHS chiefs at a scandal-hit health board are spying on the relatives of dead patients.
The Big Brother-style intelligence-gathering operation has been ordered by under-pressure officials to monitor criticism.
The Sunday Mail can reveal NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has employed a scheme it calls “social listening” to check online posts of individuals they keep on a list.
One of their key targets has been Louise Slorance, whose husband Andrew died at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH), which is at the centre of a major infections inquiry.
She described the discovery as “sickening” and said: “Not only does it feel like an intrusion, it beggars belief that precious NHS funds are being spent spying on bereaved families instead of patient care or improved pay for clinical staff.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “This is a shocking and disgusting admission from a health board who have repeatedly been shielded from scrutiny by the top players in the SNP.
“These grieving families have waited years to see justice and they have had their trust betrayed time and time again by the very people who should be protecting them.
“This is the final straw. Those involved from the NHSGGC must be sacked and we must finally get answers for this awful ordeal.”
Andrew, 49, a senior Scottish Government employee who was close to former FM Nicola Sturgeon, died three years ago while awaiting a stem cell transplant to treat his cancer at the QEUH.
The father of five contracted Covid while in hospital but, unknown to Louise, also picked up Aspergillus, a fungal infection which she discovered when reading his medical notes after his death.
Scientists have linked Aspergillus to issues during the construction of the £842million hospital which in 2015 replaced the Southern General in Glasgow and other sites in the city.
Louise has been a vocal critic of the NHSGGC, headed up by chief executive Jane Grant, and the Scottish Government since the discovery and has been campaigning for justice with other families who lost loved ones while in the QEUH and Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.
She believes this is why she is being spied on and is now demanding to know who requested that she be watched, who else is on the list and what the purpose of spying on relatives of QEUH patients is.
Louise, 46, said: “I only found out about this when I made a request for all information relating to me which was held by the health board.
“One of the documents they provided was heavily redacted but the parts which were not removed showed they wanted to add me to something called ‘social listening’. I was stunned. Not only did they add me to this list to be spied on, they added any mention of Andrew’s name to monitor what was being said about him.”
Documents seen by the Sunday Mail show an unnamed NHSGGC official on August 30, 2022, asking: “Can we please add Louise Slorance on to the list for our social listening?”
A second unnamed official replied: “Sure, do you want just to social? Also do you want mentions of her or her posts?”
The first official responded “Both” and gave Louise’s Twitter username.
The second official later said: “I’m also going to include content around Andrew Slorance as he can get mentioned without her too.”
Louise said: “Knowing the health board hold a social listening list is sickening. Not only does it feel like an intrusion, its presence highlights the toxic culture at NHSGGC in leadership behaviours, lack of compassion and accountability, and the bullying of anyone who raises concerns. NHSGGC senior management are not fit for the position.”
The mother of three has also been critical of the Scottish Government and said officials who worked with her husband were complicit in covering up the flaws with the hospital.
Sturgeon even attended Andrew’s funeral but Louise said the ex-FM went into “reputation management” mode when she publicly started questioning what happened to him at the end of his life.
She said: “The week after the first story came out about Andrew’s death and my questions, 15 minutes before FMQs [First Minister’s Questions], a call came through from her private secretary but I wasn’t able to answer. They had also sent me an email saying the actions they were going to take to get me answers. None of it has got answers. It was complete protection for her.”
Louise said she fears she will never find out the impact of Aspergillus on Andrew’s death as it was not properly investigated and she is concerned about other patients being admitted to the QEUH.
She said: “Nicola was the health secretary when the hospital was being built and, as FM, she didn’t do enough to find out what happened or inform the public. We have the same thing with Humza Yousaf, a former health secretary who will struggle to be critical of decisions made because it was done by his party.”
The scandal of the QEUH emerged fully in 2019 when a 10-year-old boy contracted an infection commonly associated with pigeon droppings. He died alongside an elderly patient who contracted the same bug.
Journalists discovered whistle-blowers had been raising concerns about the super-hospital, its water system and ventilation. The health board has denied there is a problem with water or ventilation.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde did not answer questions on who gave the spying orders, who else is on the social listening list and what they’re doing with the information.
A spokesman said: “Social media is an increasingly utilised way in which the public, patients and staff engage with us. It is also a mechanism we use to understand public sentiment in relation to our services. The information we read is only that made publicly available.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it would not comment on the conduct of the board. She added: “In instances when things go wrong, we expect NHS boards to be open with patients about what happened and learn lessons to prevent it happening again.”
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