Inquiry sets out new plan for 2026 hearings

The Eljamel Inquiry has set out plans to adjust the start date for its Section One hearings to ensure that the process can be robust and thorough. 

Jamie Dawson KC, Senior Counsel to the Inquiry, said the delay to the start of its evidential hearings was necessary to ensure the Inquiry would benefit at the outset from a high calibre of evidence, including independent expert reports.

Amongst other evidence, the Inquiry will call expert witnesses in neurosurgery, health administration and medical ethics to give evidence during Section One.

Section One will provide important background to the Inquiry’s investigations by covering the broad trajectory of Mr Eljamel’s surgical career in the Tayside region, as well as policies, systems, practices and key people relevant to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.

The Inquiry is also in the process of gathering corporate statements and other documentary evidence from a wide range of healthcare and regulatory bodies relevant to the Section One hearings.

Mr Dawson said that some organisations have requested extensions to the deadlines for providing evidence, adding that “more time should allow those who have been asked to contribute evidence the time to provide more meaningful contributions”.

More time is also needed to allow the work of the Independent Clinical Review to get underway. 

The ICR is a separate process which will provide key patient evidence and independent neurosurgical reviews to the Inquiry.

Speaking at an opening statements hearing, Mr Dawson said it was the Inquiry’s understanding and expectation that the ICR could get underway imminently.

The Inquiry's Section One hearings will now take place over three weeks, commencing in the week of April 20th 2026.

An original timetable, set out during the preliminary hearing in September, envisaged that Section One could get underway in February with the Section Two hearings split into two tranches taking place in April and autumn 2026.

The Inquiry now intends to hold the Section Two hearings from September 2026. Those hearings will be focused on evidence from Mr Eljamel’s former patients, their representatives and clinical evidence emanating from the Independent Clinical Review.

The revised plan means that patients who are called to give evidence to the Inquiry about their experiences during Section Two will have more time to prepare.

By reserving hearing space for four weeks from September 7th 2026, Mr Dawson said it was also hoped that the Inquiry could still “get back to where it otherwise would have been in its timetabling, with Section 2 taking place in the autumn of 2026, as had previously been announced”.

Mr Dawson said he is committed to seeing evidential hearings begin as soon as possible but stressed that a short pause now is in the best interests of everyone invested in the Inquiry, and its findings.

He said: “The Inquiry strives constantly to balance speed and reasonable thoroughness in its investigations. Both considerations are important and both are integral to our remit.”