Hospitals inquiry will be 'robust' but chair Lord Brodie warns families may not get the answers they want

Lord Brodie warned he could not guarantee families the answers they hope for as the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry begins its work.

The Hospitals Inquiry will cover the issues at Glasgow's QEUH and the new Sick Kids in Edinburgh

Families of those whose deaths were linked to potential defects in the construction and maintenance of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow may not get the answers they are hoping for from the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry its chair Lord Brodie has warned.

The retired judge added that he viewed the delays and issues around the construction of Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (Sick Kids) as “equally important” for the inquiry.

He said he intends for the inquiry to examine the culture of both NHS boards and how it may have led to a delay in reporting potential defects.

Lord Brodie, the chair of the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry

Lord Brodie was speaking on the day the inquiry formally begun its work examining “the planning, design, construction, commissioning and, where appropriate, maintenance” of QEUH and Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids hospital.

He said: “There are substantial public expectations but the inquiry has a framework which is provided by the remit and terms of reference and we will address ourselves to the remit and terms of reference and will do what can be done to provide answers.

“We intend this to be a demanding inquiry, we intend it to be based on fact. We are intended to investigate facts. We can’t guarantee the answers the evidence will produce, and we can’t guarantee that any answers that are produced are the answers that people wish.

"What I can say is that this will be a robust, diligent, transparent and fair process.”

Rejecting suggestions the inquiry would be a “whitewash” as per the warnings of the Scottish Conservatives’ health spokesperson Miles Briggs, Lord Brodie said the inquiry would “rigorously pursue” its remit.

Lord Brodie added the report by the Independent Review into the issues at QEUH would form part of the evidence for the inquiry, but that he would start with a “fresh sheet”.

He said: "Among the parties that were consulted in relation to the terms of reference were politicians and the spokespersons of the various parties. They contributed therefore to the terms of reference and the remit and I intend the inquiry will rigorously pursue its remit.

"I’ve read the report from the independent review group and it will form part of the information that is available to the public inquiry but its terms of reference are different from ours, it is a quite separate exercise and we will start with a fresh sheet and make our findings on the basis of the evidence we hear.

"It is our obligation to look at every aspect of the remit and terms of reference and I intend that we do that with sufficient rigour to be confident that our findings are solid and a proper basis for the recommendations that we will make.”

When asked about how the inquiry will balance the issues at both hospitals, Lord Brodie said he viewed the delay to the Sick Kids as “equally important” to the infections issues at QEUH.

He said:"I would consider the hospitals as equally important, more information is available to the public in relation to QEUH than in relation to the Sick Kids in Edinburgh and that will have an impact on the speed at which we can move through the issues but Edinburgh is as important as Glasgow and a matter of considerable public concern is the delay in opening the new facility in Edinburgh.

"What is very important in any public inquiry is that it proceeds upon the basis of evidence and facts which have a solid evidential basis.”

Lord Brodie’s comments came as the Scottish Conservatives warned the inquiry must not be a “whitewash”.

Miles Briggs, the Tory health spokesman, said: “Lord Brodie has a wide-ranging remit to take as much evidence as he feels necessary, and the parents have been promised they will be satisfied by the scope of the inquiry.

“For their sake, and those of parents across Scotland, this inquiry cannot whitewash the role of the SNP government and successive Scottish health secretaries.

“Experts and parents have already expressed forceful concerns about what has happened at QEUH and also the Sick Kids construction project — itself an awful saga more than a decade long.

“The public confidence has been shaken and it must be restored quickly.”

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