Ian Youngs

Ian Youngs is a chief scientific adviser of NI who lost a High Court bid to block a General Medical Council (GMC) investigation of allegations he failed to tell the family of a nine-year-old girl who died about ‘failings’ in her treatment. Prof Young was asked to provide an independent assessment on whether hyponatraemia contributed to Claire’s death. The purpose of his assessment was to inform Dr McBride’s decision over whether to refer the matter to the coroner. A public inquiry investigating the deaths of Claire and four other children from the condition found Prof Young did not inform Claire’s parents about failings in her care and gave ‘misleading’ evidence to the original inquest into her death. Prof Young was not involved in the treatment of any of the patients. The GMC waived an earlier decision not to waive its usual five-year time limit for fitness to practise proceedings, stating it was ‘in the public interest’ for the allegations against Prof Young to proceed to an investigation. In January 2020, the GMC confirmed it is continuing to investigate a number of doctors linked with the Hyponatraemia Inquiry. Prof Young had been prominent in the Department of Health’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis but had been absent from some media briefings prior to the announcement.