First Minister Humza Yousaf has given the strongest signal yet that he will order an independent investigation into disgraced NHS Tayside surgeon Sam Eljamel.
Campaigners and victims of Professor Eljamel have been calling for the government to announce a judge-led public inquiry after a flood of complaints about surgeries he performed.
But the first minister said he has concerns about the length of time this would take to get answers for those affected.
Dozens of patients operated on by the neurosurgeon in Dundee between 1995 and 2013 have come forward to describe how he left them with lifelong injuries.
He was ordered to pay one victim £2.8 million in compensation for his mistakes and even removed the wrong part of another woman’s body.
Humza Yousaf: Detail on Eljamel probe ‘soon’
Speaking to The Courier on Wednesday, after we published an account by another victim of Eljamel, Mr Yousaf said he hoped a “suitably independent” probe into the doctor’s conduct would be announced soon.
He said: “We will soon be in a position to give more detail on what we are looking to do.
“I think there is a process that should be suitably and adequately independent which doesn’t take as long as a public inquiry would.”
Most public inquiries take around two years to complete, however some have run for more than a decade.
The Courier reported how NHS Tayside was told of concerns around Prof Eljamel as early as 2009.
But doctors who raised the alarm told of being “shut down” and warned about the impact speaking out could have on their career.
Asked how confident he was that a similar situation would not be repeated, Mr Yousaf said: “Lessons have been learned from the Eljamel case, not just in Tayside but right across the country.
“In any organisation, particularly one the size of the NHS, there may well be issues that crop up from time to time but this is a serious issue – not one to be underplayed in terms of the impact its had.
“That’s why I’m keen we don’t just learn lessons but we get people the answers that they rightly deserve.”
Mr Yousaf said he would encourage anyone working in the NHS who had concerns to report them.
“I’m a great believer in whistleblowing if that’s the route people want to go down.
“I have said to people that if they do not feel confident raising these issues locally they can write to me as first minister or indeed the health secretary.”
Humza Yousaf was speaking in Glenrothes after he unveiled £60 million in funding to help reduce reliance on temporary accommodation.
The funding will support councils to purchase empty homes to increase the supply of social and affordable housing.
