SCOTLAND’S largest health board has accepted a probable “causal connection” between dirty water and infections that led to fatalities at its flagship hospital.

The admission came in Friday’s closing submission to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, which has been examining the design and construction of Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QE) and the Royal Hospital for Children.

The inquiry was launched after a wave of infections among cancer patients at the hospitals, which share the same Govan campus, between 2016 and 2018, and the linked deaths of 73-year-old Gail Armstrong and three children, including 10-year-old Milly Main.

While stating that it was “broadly acknowledged that there is no definite link between infections and the water system,” the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde health board noted the rate of infection steadily decreased after remedial measures were started, including those pertaining to the water system, in 2018.

The health board “accepts that, on the balance of probabilities, there is a causal connection between some infections suffered by patients and the hospital environment, in particular the water system,” it said. The board “departs from its earlier submissions in this regard, having heard all expert evidence.”

Today Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who campaigned alongside bereaved families for an inquiry, said: “For years, families have been forced to fight for the truth about what happened to their children at the QE.

“Whistleblowers were gaslit, lied to and punished for telling the truth. They have been ignored, dismissed, patronised, and made to feel like they were ‘making a fuss.’

“The QE scandal is one of the worst failures in modern Scottish public life. Since the hospital opened, there has been a litany of serious problems: concerns about water safety, environmental risks, governance failures, and infections that devastated families.

“[The board] has been named as a suspect in a corporate homicide investigation relating to the deaths of patients, including 10-year-old Milly Main. In my opinion, so should the SNP ministers responsible for the cover-up.”

Mr Sarwar said that the “latest admission by the board should be a turning point, adding: “It should be the beginning of the end for the SNP’s secret Scotland. A moment when Scotland finally says: Enough.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish government is committed to assisting the inquiry and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time.”