Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 21 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards it will put in place during any transition from 14 regional NHS boards to two strategic boards to ensure that all evidence relating to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry and ongoing investigations into Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus is preserved and remains accessible to the relevant investigatory and legal bodies.
Ministers established the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry to ensure families get the truth they deserve, and we are clear that changes to NHS structures will not impact on this. Our planned reforms to NHS structures are designed to improve NHS accountability, transparency and experiences for patients. The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry held its final oral hearings in January 2026, and we now await Lord Brodie's final report. All evidence the Scottish Government has shared with the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry has been securely preserved and retained both by the Scottish Government and the Inquiry. This evidence remains accessible to the relevant investigatory and legal bodies, and the transition from 14 regional NHS boards to two strategic boards will not affect the existing secure preservation of this evidence.