Health Minister appoints Chair of the Southern Trust Urology Public Inquiry

By Q Radio News

Health Minister Robin Swann has appointed Christine Smith QC to chair the public inquiry announced in relation to serious concerns about the clinical practice of a hospital consultant.

The Minister announced the inquiry in an Assembly statement in November 2020, in relation to the work of a urology consultant who had retired from the Southern Trust earlier that year.

The Minister today said: “In my statement to the Assembly on 24 November 2020, I said we are only at the start of what is likely to become a long and detailed investigation of the matter and I therefore intended to establish a statutory public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005.

(Health Minister Robin Swann)

"I believe that that is the best way to ensure that the full extent of the concerns is identified and for the patients and families affected to see that all relevant issues are pursued in a transparent and independent way.

“I have therefore appointed Christine Smith QC as Chair of the Inquiry with the aim of getting the inquiry fully under way by summer 2021. The next step will be to finalise the terms of reference for the inquiry, following engagement with the Assembly’s Health Committee and the patients affected by the lookback, and to finalise the members of the Inquiry Panel.

“Ms Smith is a very experienced Queen’s Counsel with a background in public inquiry work. She is Senior Counsel to the Independent Neurology Inquiry and was Senior Counsel for the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry. She also appeared for the Department of Finance in the RHI Inquiry.  I believe that her professional expertise and recent involvement with inquiries equips her to chair the Urology Inquiry.”

The Minister also today reiterated the unreserved apology to the patients and their families he issued in November, adding: “I wish to reassure them that I will endeavour to ensure that they obtain appropriate treatment and support and the care that they need.”