CLEANERS at a hospital hit by an infection outbreak have not been briefed on how to control the problem, Richard Leonard said at First Minister’s Questions today.

A child is among two patients who have died after contracting Crypotococcus, which is linked to pigeon droppings, at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. The other patient was an elderly person whose death is said to have not been caused by the infection.

Scottish Labour leader Mr Leonard said: “It is unacceptable that cleaners at the hospital were, as of Wednesday night, still not briefed on infection control.

“The issues at the Queen Elizabeth aren’t just related to maintenance and the building — it is about the pressure the domestic workforce is under to keep the hospital clean.”

He said the outbreak “simply never should have happened.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged that the cleaners should have been briefed, while adding that, “regrettably and unfortunately, on occasion infections do happen in hospitals.”

She denied Mr Leonard’s allegation that she believed infection control was “good enough.”

Ms Sturgeon acknowledged that there was “a very serious incident that must be and is being treated seriously.” And she offered her “deepest condolences to the families of the two patients who contracted the infection and who have subsequently died.”

Interim Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said the incidents “raised wider questions about the government’s record on the NHS, because there is a £900 million maintenance backlog on NHS buildings, including hospitals in Scotland.”

The First Minister replied: “At any given time there will be maintenance requirements in the health service estate.

“Obviously, we work within a financial envelope and I think everybody knows that that has been under pressure in recent years and everybody knows the reasons for that.

“But within that, we have prioritised spending on the health service and we will continue to do so.”