Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2026 [Draft]
If Jackie Baillie would stop shouting at me, I will walk my way through these different issues, because it is important that I give Parliament and the public a clear answer on this question.
Issues arose from the Queen Elizabeth university hospital that resulted in the Scottish Government commissioning a public inquiry that is still sitting and looking at those issues; we await the findings of Lord Brodie. Because of the issues that emerged at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital, my late colleague Jeane Freeman stopped the opening of the Royal hospital for children and young people, because she was concerned about safety issues. Therefore, there was no cover-up and no ignoring the reality. The very reason why Jeane Freeman took the decision not to open the children’s hospital in Edinburgh was her response to the issues at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital.
As I explained to Mr Burnett last week, the Baird and the ANCHOR centre in Aberdeen are delayed because the same cautious approach that was taken in Edinburgh is being taken to the Baird and ANCHOR. That is because this Government takes the issue of patient safety seriously—and it always will under my leadership.