The truth isn’t being told about political pressure used to speed up the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital's opening. That hurts victim’s families and wounds the NHS and democracy, says our Writer at Large, Neil MacKay.

Let's hope that SNP politicians have the current Scottish Social Attitudes Survey memorised off by heart. The latest report, published by the Scottish Centre for Social Research, revealed an astonishing collapse in public trust in the NHS.

Only 22% of Scots are satisfied with the health service: the lowest level since the survey began in 1999. Trust is at rock bottom.

It isn’t just the level of personal care that we receive as citizens - with patients lying in hospital corridors, the lottery of getting to see your GP, and agonising waiting lists - driving public concerns.

Today, we’re bombarded with repeated NHS scandals throughout Britain: serial killer nurses, sociopathic surgeons, money-grubbing bureaucrats.

The antics of the Scottish government and the NHS itself around the scandal besetting Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) is super-charging public concerns, draining what little trust remains, and fostering a sense that the people who run our hospitals are dishonest and dangerous.

As we know, police are investigating the deaths of three children and three adults at the hospital. There has been a public inquiry into safety concerns at the billion-pound QEUH.

Last week, in closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde........

© Herald Scotland