News

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry continues to move forward its investigation into the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People/Department of Clinical Neurosciences (RHCYP/DCN), Edinburgh.

Where are we now?

Emerging findings from recent work uncovering how the needs of NHS Lothian were translated into the procurement process for the RHCYP/DCN have been shared with relevant core participants.

This work continues the investigations into topics introduced during the May 2022 hearings and which the Inquiry team believes are necessary to inform the next stages of the investigation. The three topics are:

• The reference design which provided a basis for tendering organisations to understand the project;
• The environmental matrix that sets out key parameters of the environmental conditions for each room; and
• The details of the procurement process following the decision to adopt a non-profit distributing funding model.

How will this help the Inquiry?

Core participants with knowledge of matters covered in the papers have been asked to confirm their understanding of the factual details of these topics. Where a core participant believes the details to be incorrect, they are requested to provide evidence to support their understanding.

This working with core participants is crucial to help the Inquiry understand the issues, carry out a more thorough investigation, and efficiently understand matters that can be explored without holding a hearing and questioning those involved.

What happens next?

Core participants that received the papers have been requested to provide their responses within the next few weeks, after which a period of clarification is likely to be needed. Once finalised, working papers on these topics will be posted to the Inquiry Documents area of the Inquiry website.

These working papers will represent the view of the Inquiry team and its latest work, and not necessarily the view of Lord Brodie.

Should there be disagreement on the findings or further questions arising, Lord Brodie may invite core participants to a hearing to present their evidence in person.

Further updates on the progress of the Inquiry will be made in due course.