Scottish Covid Inquiry: Health and Social Care Impact Hearings to take place

The Scottish Covid Inquiry is to begin hearing evidence in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

The Inquiry’s Health and Social Care Impact Hearings will commence on October 24, 2023 at 10am and take place on Wednesday, October 25 and Friday, October 27 at Waverly Court before moving to George House.

Further hearings will be held on Tuesday, October 31, Wednesday, November 1 and Thursday, November 2.

The sessions will include submissions from health and social care sector such as Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and Alzheimer’s Scotland.

Inquiry timetable

Tuesday, October 24 and Wed, October 25
Opening submissions from core participants who have been granted Leave to Appear and who wish to make a submission.

Friday, October 27
Morning – Scottish Covid Bereaved organisational statement and an individual statement
Afternoon – Care Home Relatives Scotland organisational statement

Tuesday, October 31
Morning – Alzheimer’s Scotland organisational statement
Afternoon – British Geriatric Society organisational statement

Wednesday, November 1
Morning – The Alliance organisational statement and Glasgow Disability Alliance organisational statement

‘Robust investigation’

The inquiry has been set up to investigate the devolved strategic response to the pandemic between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2022.

Public hearings will be paused until February 2024 to allow the UK inquiry to conduct its Scottish-based evidence sessions.

It will then continue to hear impact statements across the three themes of health, education and finance for the remainder of the year before moving onto assessing decision-making.

Lord Brailsford, chair of Scotland’s Covid-19 inquiry, promised a “robust investigation” into how Scottish ministers responded to the Covid outbreak.

During a preliminary hearing of the Inquiry in August, he paid tribute to those who had lost loved ones or had been severely impacted by the pandemic.

He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic presented the most severe health crisis in living memory. It affected everyone.”