A brave whistleblower who helped to expose the infections scandal at Scotland’s 1 billion superhospital last night revealed that the toll her six-year battle for the truth took on her saw her rushed to the same hospital with a stress-related heart condition.
Dr Penelope Redding, one of three female medics who tried dozens of times to raise their concerns about the water and ventilation systems at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow, told how her family begged her to give up the fight for the sake of her health – but she battled on regardless.
During her struggle to highlight concerns about the hospital, Dr Redding – who was employed as a consultant microbiologist and infection control medic – was admitted to the QEUH coronary care unit with stress-related heart problems.
She told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I was trying repeatedly to get my voice heard and the stress of it was making me ill.
‘It is surreal that I ended up being treated for a stress-related heart condition in the very hospital where the management wouldn’t listen to the risks the whistleblowers were raising about immunocompromised patients there.
‘After that I said I would stop [my involvement], but I realised that it was more stressful to give up than to play a part in pushing for the issues to be understood, accepted and resolved.
‘I found the stories from the patients and families very compelling, and I couldn’t abandon them.’
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