Mar 2007: Council members bid to oust Jackie Baillie MSP
An outbreak of CDIF occurred at the Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire. This was the most recent failure in service delivery at the hospital abd the public are very unhappy about it.
Labour councillors turned on their local MSP yesterday, demanding her resignation over local hospital services.
Jackie Baillie, the Dumbarton Labour MSP and former communities minister, was attacked by four Labour members of West Dunbartonshire Council, including former leader Andy White.
They sided with the Scottish National Party and independent councillors at a full council meeting which brought the ruling administration to the brink of collapse. Martin Rooney, who replaced Andy White after his forced resignation.
In December, only six of the 16 people elected as Labour councillors in 2003 attended. Several stayed away while four rebels voted against the Labour line and sought revenge on Ms Baillie for her public attacks on them.
what arrangements were put in place to keep patient safe. If they were transferred to other hospitals this would markedly increase the travelling time for relatives and other visitors in already difficult circumstances. What was the final cost of the clean up to the Scottish public
Vale of Leven Hospital Context (2007)
- The CDIF outbreak at Vale of Leven Hospital was part of a broader scandal involving poor infection control and management.
- A 2009 public inquiry found that 53 patients died between 2007 and 2008, with C. diff being a factor in many deaths, though only 18 were directly attributed to the infection.
- Failures included inadequate staffing, poor hygiene practices, and insufficient isolation facilities, which fueled the outbreak and public outrage.
Patient transfers significantly increased travel times for relatives and visitors. Vale of Leven Hospital is in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, approximately 20–30 miles from Glasgow’s major hospitals. Public transport options, such as buses or trains, could take 1–2 hours each way, and driving would involve similar time and costs, particularly burdensome for frequent visits.
The outbreak’s distressing nature—marked by severe diarrhea and loss of dignity—already placed emotional strain on families. Increased travel would exacerbate this, especially for elderly or frail relatives with limited mobility or resources, compounding the “already difficult circumstances” noted in the query.
Families also reported inconsistent communication from hospital staff, with “mixed messages” about C. diff, which would have made coordinating visits to transferred patients more challenging.
A GROK analysis is here:
https://twitter.com/i/grok/share/wNruGeju4YpSD1UsSwWDqbwXM
caltonjock 
This article would be an easier read is if there was some setting the scene to introduce the circumstances that pertained at the time.
e.g. 2003-2007 was the period of the 2nd elected Scottish Parliament. Labour had already previously been in coalition government with the Liberals for 4 years.
Was JB the deputy leader of the British Labour party in Scotland under FM Jack McConnell back then or then or did that come later?
Was she the Health secretary?
Had this issue been festering for years?
etc.
LikeLike
Baillie was the MSP of the Labour Party controlled fiefdom within which there were long held concerns about the lack of financial investment at the hospital. Threats of closure were routinely speculated on in the media. The hospital was a pigsty.
LikeLike