Hearings for Glasgow in 2024
At a procedural hearing today, Counsel to the Inquiry, Alastair Duncan KC, spoke about the plans for hearings in 2024.
Counsel to the Inquiry reiterated that the investigations of issues and topics are already underway. A Provisional Position Paper on the History of Infection Concern will shortly be sent out to core participants for comment before it is published on the Inquiry’s website.
The risk to patient safety has been at the heart of the Inquiry’s work. The Inquiry will aim to answer the following key questions at hearings next year:
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From the point at which there were patients within the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital/Royal Hospital for Children was the water system (including drainage) in an unsafe condition, in the sense that it presented an additional risk of avoidable infection to patients?
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From the same point and in the same way was the ventilation system in an unsafe condition?
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In the same sense, are these systems now in a safe condition?
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Is there a link, and if so in what way and to what extent, between patient infections and identified unsafe features of the water and ventilation systems?
The Inquiry aims to hold hearings dealing with these questions in 2024, which will be divided into two parts:
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Hearing from factual witnesses first.
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Hearing from the experts it has instructed to explore the four key questions listed above, who would be asked to comment upon the material parts of the evidence produced for and led at the factual diet.
Further information regarding the arrangements for these hearings will be provided at the end of the hearing in June.
Watch the procedural hearing for more details.
The list of issues for the June 2023 hearing can be found here