THE judge leading a public inquiry into flaws in the design and construction of two major hospitals has urged anyone with information to get in touch.

Lord Brodie issued a call for evidence as work begins to prepare for hearings into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus in Glasgow and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP) in Edinburgh.

The QEUH and its adjoining children’s hospital opened in 2015, but have been plagued by clusters of rare fungal and bloodstream infections among cancer patients potentially linked to problems with its ventilation and water supply systems.

There is still no date for the RHCYP to begin admitting patients after inspectors discovered faults in its ventilation design days before it was due to open last year. Remedial work is ongoing.

Both facilities were built by global construction giant, Brookfield Multiplex, who is now being sued for £73 million in damages by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to cover the cost of repairs and upgrades.

Lord Brodie said: “We are encouraging anyone who has been affected by the matters giving rise to concern to get in touch.

“This is just the first part of the process and we will be following up on initial contact. We’re really looking for anything that people feel may be relevant.”

He said this could include patients and families affected by infections at the QEUH campus, NHS whistleblowers, or anyone involved during the design and construction phases.

Lord Brodie said it would be up to the inquiry to “dig deep” and “ensure that we establish facts with the greatest degree of certainty that is possible”.

It will have powers to compel witnesses to give oral testimony and to hand over documents, and Lord Brodie stressed that he would not allow the civil proceedings against Multiplex “to restrict the way we go forward with the inquiry”.

Its remit includes determining whether the “organisational culture” at NHS GGC and NHS Lothian” encouraged staff to raise concerns”, and whether “any individual or body deliberately concealed or failed to disclose evidence of wrongdoing or failures...during the life of the projects or following handover, including evidence relating to the impact of such matters on patient care and patient outcomes”.

Public hearings are unlikely to begin before the end of 2021 at the earliest, however.

“There’s a lot of work to be done before we can get to the stage of a public hearing,” said Lord Brodie. “Otherwise the hearing is ineffective and unfocused. I would like to be in a position to announce dates for the first hearings in the course of the next year.”