Doctor tells inquiry hospital concerns ignored for 15 years

During a meeting with the health board’s chief executive, Prof Jann Gardner, earlier this year, Bradnam said he raised the possibility that “elevated humidity levels in the supply air could be contributing to mould growth within the ventilation system”.

Gardner later said a review of imaging facilities had been launched.

In a previous email to management in 2014, Bradnam expressed concern the hospital’s diagnostic team was being “pressured” into installing high-value imaging equipment before the building was complete.

He said that risked the “deterioration and damage” of an MRI scanner, which cost about £10m.

First Minister John Swinney and former first minister Nicola Sturgeon have both denied that political pressure was applied so the hospital could open before it was ready.

Bradnam said he had not received any “formal response” to his complaints, nor any “confirmation that my recommendations have been implemented or that the assurance gaps they identified have been addressed”.

He also said he did not know whether the complaints were escalated to management level within the health board.

“By 2026, I had been raising concerns for at least 15 years,” he told the inquiry.

“Although some had been partially addressed, I had not seen evidence of a documented, system-wide gap analysis or of a documented process for demonstrating that the identified assurance gaps, particularly those relating to legacy issues, had been resolved and formally closed across the imaging facilities.”

The inquiry closed its submissions process in January 2026.

Bradnam said he had only recently been able to contact the probe due to health issues and a family bereavement.