Credit: BBC
Public hearings into disgraced Dundee brain surgeon Sam Eljamel will begin today after years of campaigning by former patients.
The Eljamel Inquiry will begin taking evidence in public for the first time at Waverley Gate in Edinburgh on Tuesday morning in what its chairman has described as a “watershed moment”.
Eljamel worked as a consultant neurosurgeon at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee from 1995 until he was suspended by NHS Tayside in December 2013 following concerns about his clinical practice.
Former patients have alleged he harmed as many as 200 people while working in Scotland.
More than 540 former NHS Tayside patients have now applied to have their treatment examined by a separate independent clinical review established alongside the public inquiry.
The long-awaited evidential hearings begin on Tuesday 8 September and will initially run for four weeks, concluding on Friday 2 October.
Lord Weir, who chairs the inquiry, described the start of evidence as an important milestone for patients who spent years campaigning for answers.
He said: “Today marks another important milestone in the progress of this Inquiry, and a watershed moment for all those who campaigned for it.
“Everyone engaged in the work of the Inquiry has an interest in finding out what happened and what lessons can be learned.
“I remain committed to conducting an investigation which is robust, thorough and impartial.”
The first day will begin with an opening address from senior counsel to the inquiry Jamie Dawson KC.
He is expected to outline the background to the investigation, explain what the first section of hearings will examine and provide an update on the inquiry’s wider work.
Former Conservative MSP Liz Smith will then become the inquiry’s first witness.
Smith represented a number of Eljamel’s former patients during her time as a Mid Scotland and Fife MSP and became a prominent supporter of their campaign for a full public inquiry.
The hearings mark the beginning of a potentially lengthy examination of what happened during Eljamel’s career and how concerns about his treatment of patients were handled.
The inquiry was formally established by the Scottish Government in April 2025.
It has been tasked with examining Eljamel’s activities and the oversight of his work, including whether patients were failed by systems designed to protect them.
Eljamel was appointed as a consultant neurosurgeon at Ninewells in 1995. He subsequently became lead clinician for neurosurgery and pain at the hospital and Head of the Department for Surgical Neurology at the University of Dundee.
Concerns about his clinical practice eventually led to him being placed under supervision in 2013. He was later suspended by NHS Tayside in December that year.
Eljamel resigned from NHS Tayside in May 2014 and removed himself from the General Medical Register in 2015. He is believed to have subsequently returned to Libya.
Former patients have spent years campaigning for an independent examination of both Eljamel’s actions and the organisations responsible for overseeing his work. The inquiry will investigate whether there were failures in clinical governance, risk management and the way complaints were handled.
One of the most significant issues to be examined during the first four weeks concerns the handling and retention of NHS records. The inquiry says it will hear evidence about document management systems within NHS Tayside, including the destruction of theatre logbooks in 2025 and whether missing documentation hindered previous reviews and investigations into Eljamel.
It will also examine the circumstances surrounding his appointment at Ninewells, the development of his career, the nature and extent of his work and complaints made about him. Expert evidence will be heard from specialists in neurosurgery, medical ethics and healthcare administration.
Representatives from NHS Tayside, the University of Dundee, the Scottish Government and professional and regulatory organisations are among those due to appear.
The hearings beginning this week form only the first of six sections planned by the inquiry.
The second section will focus much more directly on the experiences of Eljamel’s former patients and evidence gathered through the Independent Clinical Review. Later stages will examine evidence from medical professionals, the role of regulators and other organisations, NHS Tayside and the Scottish Government.
The final section will consider what lessons should be learned.