Inquiry to hear from its core participants

The Eljamel Inquiry will hear opening statements from some of its core participants and set out important updates on its progress at a hearing in Edinburgh today (November 26th).

The opening statements hearing will take place at Waverley Gate today and tomorrow.

It is primarily an opportunity for the Inquiry to hear the views of its core participants on matters which will be addressed by the Inquiry and the way in which it will go about its work. 

Legal representatives for the patient group, NHS Tayside, and Scottish Ministers will make oral statements today, with further contributions tomorrow on behalf of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland, and the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh). 

The Inquiry will also hear a submission tomorrow on behalf of the separate Independent Clinical Review.

Senior Counsel to the Inquiry, Jamie Dawson KC, will also use today’s hearing to provide detail about the Inquiry’s plans for future hearings.

It comes as the Inquiry moves closer to the start of its evidential hearings in 2026.

A provisional plan for Section One of the Inquiry has now set out what will be covered in the first block of hearings.

Section One will examine the background to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference, including the roles of key bodies, the identity of key individuals, policies and practices relevant to matters being looked at by the Inquiry.

Among other things, it will look at:

• The broad trajectory of Mr Eljamel’s career in Scotland, the types of work he undertook and the systems surrounding his NHS practice;
• The circumstances surrounding his appointment to the role of consultant neurosurgeon at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee in 1995, and other key roles (Term of Reference 1);
• his teaching and research commitments;
• the complaints and feedback systems in place at NHS Tayside including statistical evidence relating to the nature and timing of formal complaints about Mr Eljamel;
• the broad timing, reasons for and conditions of his clinical supervision and subsequent suspension in 2013;
• the broad circumstances of his resignation from NHS Tayside, in 2014, and the removal of his name from the GMC medical register in 2015; and
• the broad nature and findings of previous investigations into Mr Eljamel (Term of Reference 12).

Section One will also consider evidence about the document management and retention systems in place at NHS Tayside during the course of Mr Eljamel’s employment and subsequently. It will consider whether the various reviews and investigations carried out into his professional practice were undermined by a lack of available documents.

During Section One, the Inquiry intends to call independent experts in neurosurgery, medical ethics, and health administration to provide important context to the factual evidence and to help promote understanding of the issues which the Inquiry will address in its later evidential sections.

The role of organisations which did, or could have, played a part in overseeing the work of Mr Eljamel and his team will also be examined.

Mr Dawson will also use today’s hearing to provide an update in public on the Inquiry’s work to date.

This will include its progress in recovering patients’ medical records and complaint files, as well as requesting corporate written statements and other documentary evidence from bodies such as NHS Tayside, the University of Dundee, Circle Healthcare, and the General Medical Council.

The Inquiry is using its statutory powers to obtain medical records to assist its own investigations and the work of the Independent Clinical Review (ICR) – a separate process led by Professor Stephen Wigmore.

Former patients of Mr Eljamel can register to have their cases evaluated by the ICR’s independent expert neurosurgeons.

The reports compiled by the ICR will be fed back to the Inquiry to assist it in its own investigations into what happened to patients, and whether the systems which were supposed to protect them failed.

The Inquiry has requested that the ICR provide it with an initial 50 “priority” case reviews, covering a broad spectrum of patient experiences, in time for the Inquiry’s Section Two hearings. 

Mr Dawson will use today’s hearing to provide an update on the ICR.

He will also address questions over the legal support NHS Tayside is offering to current and former employees of the health board following concerns raised by the Inquiry at its preliminary hearing in September.

Meanwhile, the Inquiry’s List of Issues – a more detailed outline of the matters to be investigated under the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference – have also been expanded following engagement with core participants.

The changes include a more detailed examination of the accuracy and comprehensiveness of patients’ medical records – including whether they were falsified or altered retrospectively - and consideration of whether Mr Eljamel was using unlicensed or experimental products in surgery, and the systems related to any such use.