Humza Yousaf commits to public inquiry into disgraced surgeon Professor Sam Eljamel
A public inquiry will be held into the disgraced brain surgeon Sam Eljamel, the Scottish government has confirmed.
Eljamel harmed dozens of patients at NHS Tayside, leaving some with life-changing injuries.
He was head of neurosurgery at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee until December 2013, when he was suspended.
Health Secretary Michael Matheson said he was persuaded of the need for the inquiry after reading a damning due diligence review into NHS Tayside.
It follows a long-running campaign which saw almost 150 former patients of the surgeon calling for the inquiry.
At First Minister's Questions, Humza Yousaf said the decision was taken after "very careful consideration" of the "extremely disturbing" findings of a due diligence review into NHS Tayside.
It found that concerns about Eljamel were not acted upon with the urgency they deserved.
Mr Matheson told MSPs he had been unconvinced of the need for a public inquiry until he read that report.
He said it had revealed significant information that had not previously been known by the Scottish government, despite eight reviews since 2018.
"That raised serious concerns for me on the openness and the transparency there has been to date from NHS Tayside," he added.
Mr Matheson said he had concluded that a public inquiry was "the only route to get to the bottom of who knew what and when, and what contributed to the failures described by NHS Tayside".
The health secretary said he also wanted to see individual cases reviewed independently of NHS Tayside in a "person-centred, trauma-informed" manner.
A public inquiry will be held into the disgraced brain surgeon Sam Eljamel, the Scottish government has confirmed.
Eljamel harmed dozens of patients at NHS Tayside, leaving some with life-changing injuries.
He was head of neurosurgery at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee until December 2013, when he was suspended.
Health Secretary Michael Matheson said he was persuaded of the need for the inquiry after reading a damning due diligence review into NHS Tayside.
It follows a long-running campaign which saw almost 150 former patients of the surgeon calling for the inquiry.
At First Minister's Questions, Humza Yousaf said the decision was taken after "very careful consideration" of the "extremely disturbing" findings of a due diligence review into NHS Tayside.
It found that concerns about Eljamel were not acted upon with the urgency they deserved.
Mr Matheson told MSPs he had been unconvinced of the need for a public inquiry until he read that report.
He said it had revealed significant information that had not previously been known by the Scottish government, despite eight reviews since 2018.
"That raised serious concerns for me on the openness and the transparency there has been to date from NHS Tayside," he added.
Mr Matheson said he had concluded that a public inquiry was "the only route to get to the bottom of who knew what and when, and what contributed to the failures described by NHS Tayside".
The health secretary said he also wanted to see individual cases reviewed independently of NHS Tayside in a "person-centred, trauma-informed" manner.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Hello, I'm Alistair Grant and I'm the Political Editor of The Scotsman and I'm here in the
00:08 Garden Lobby of the Scottish Parliament just after First Minister's Questions where we
00:12 heard from Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, that there will be a full public inquiry into
00:18 the disgraced surgeon Sam El-Jamel who worked for NHS Tayside. Now this is something that's
00:23 been a long time coming. El-Jamel was suspended by NHS Tayside in 2013 and there have been
00:29 long running calls from some of those who are affected by the surgeon's work at NHS
00:35 Tayside to have that public inquiry. But it's also a bit of a U-turn for Scottish Government
00:41 and for Humza Yousaf. Humza Yousaf was previously not keen on the idea of a public inquiry.
00:45 He preferred to potentially hold an independent review which he said would provide those answers
00:51 but might not take as long as a public inquiry. We all know how long public inquiries can
00:55 take. You just need to look at the Edinburgh Tran Inquiry. It's an inquiry that's taken
01:00 far longer than maybe many people expected. But we can expect more details on that public
01:04 inquiry into Sam El-Jamel and what it will mean in a ministerial statement by the Health
01:09 Secretary Michael Matheson this afternoon. I think there'll be big questions for NHS
01:13 Tayside to answer there as well.
01:16 Thank you Presiding Officer. There can be few things more important than the safety
01:19 of patients in our health service. One thing that is perhaps equally critical is the trust
01:26 that we as individuals and communities can have in our healthcare. Patients must also
01:32 have trust that where concerns are raised about their care and treatment, those will
01:38 be investigated and the necessary actions taken. They must be able to trust that their
01:45 concerns will be investigated, scrutinised and subject to robust governance and due diligence
01:51 at the time and not several years later. When trust is broken and such weakness in governance
02:00 identified, it's imperative that we do all we can to investigate why and do all we can
02:08 to prevent others from having the same kind of distress and traumatic experience.
02:15 The actions some years ago by Mr El-Jamal, a former surgeon in NHS Tayside, have been
02:21 discussed at length in this chamber and I know colleagues have a keen interest in the
02:26 Government's next steps. Several reviews have taken place into his practice, both at
02:33 the time and in the years since, after concerns were expressed by a number of his former patients.
02:41 The latest NHS Tayside review, a due diligence review of documentation held relating to El-Jamal,
02:49 laid bare the failings in NHS Tayside's response to concerns about Mr El-Jamal. It is clear
02:58 from the review that those concerns were not acted upon or followed up with the urgency
03:04 and rigour that they deserve. Now, several years later, many former patients still live
03:12 with the consequences and still have many unanswered questions. That is why today I
03:19 am announcing our intention to commission a full public inquiry to seek answers to those
03:25 questions.
03:26 [End of Audio]
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