Patient of shamed surgeon heckles Humza Yousaf during speech

First Minister Humza Yousaf left the podium to speak to protestor Theresa Mallett

The former patient of a disgraced surgeon brought the SNP's independence convention to a standstill to demand a public inquiry.

Theresa Mallett, 61, said she was left with life-changing injuries after undergoing botched surgery for sciatica at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Ex-NHS Tayside doctor Prof Sam Eljamel is thought to have harmed hundreds of patients.

First Minister Humza Yousaf left the podium to speak to Ms Mallett.

Last year a damning report highlighted failures in how NHS Tayside oversaw the neurosurgeon who harmed patients for years.

And in April Health Secretary Michael Matheson launched an independent review of NHS Tayside in relation to the scandal.

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SNP member Ms Mallett, from Glenrothes, told Mr Yousaf only a full public inquiry would restore her faith in the party.

After leaving the event at Dundee's Caird Hall the grandmother said: "The day after the operation Eljamel told me it was a complete success.

"Two years later the pain clinic told me that I was never getting better - it's permanent.

"I thought I was going back to work, I thought I was going to get on with my life. And of course, it got worse."

Sam Eljamel was the head of the neurosurgery department in Ninewells Hospital in Dundee

Ms Mallett said she underwent the surgery to remove a nerve which was causing her sciatic pain, on 18 December 2012, but had been given no insight since into what went wrong.

She said: "We want people from NHS Tayside, Ninewells, the managers and anybody that colluded to allow him to continue harming patients.

"I'm a member of (the SNP) and I thought I need to go speak to him (the first minister), I need to go look him in the eye.

"I don't want anybody to ever go through what I went through or the other 112 went through. That can never be allowed to happen.

"Eljamel is gone, we will never get him back - but we still need answers. Notes have been lost, x-rays have been lost. We have never had answers."

Ms Mallett said she had quit the party "for the time being" but added: "If I get a public inquiry I'll reconsider. I can't look people in the face, my own first minister of the party that I love."

'She's suffered a lot of trauma'

Speaking to journalists after his speech, Mr Yousaf said he was happy to meet Ms Mallett and other victims.

He said: "There's no doubt that she's suffered a lot of trauma, all the victims of Eljamel have, and I'm happy to meet with her in particular.

"She had a particular concern that we haven't agreed to a public inquiry - I can understand the calls for a public inquiry I have to say."

Mr Yousaf said there may be ways of getting answers quicker.

But he added: "We know how long a public inquiry often takes but look, everybody who has suffered at the hands of Eljamel has every right to be angry at the situation they find themselves in."

Following the interruption, Mr Yousaf appealed to SNP members to not "shout down" those who were trying to be heard.

Prof Eljamel, the former head of neurosurgery at NHS Tayside, harmed dozens of patients before he was suspended in 2013.

He was allowed to voluntarily remove himself from the General Medical Council's register and is now working as a surgeon in Libya.

NHS Tayside recently pledged to work with the Scottish government regarding "the next steps to support individual patients".