New chief medical officer appointed

A FORMER Lanarkshire GP is to take over as the Scottish Government’s most senior medical advisor as efforts continue to stem the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Gregor Smith will take over Catherine Calderwood’s duties “for the foreseeable future”, Nicola Sturgeon said.

However, the First Minister added that a recruitment process would be held to decide who ultimately becomes the new chief medical officer (CMO).

Dr Smith trained as a general practitioner and spent most of his career at a practice in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire.

He later became the medical director for primary care at NHS Lanarkshire, one of Scotland’s largest health boards.

It comes after it emerged Dr Calderwood failed to reveal a second visit to her holiday home during the coronavirus lockdown when the news broke.

She resigned on Sunday night, a day after photos emerged showing her flouting lockdown measures by visiting her second home in Fife with her family.

The Scottish Government had initially claimed in a statement that she “took the opportunity this weekend to check on a family home in Fife as she knows she will not be back again until the crisis is over”.

However, at Sunday’s press conference, the then CMO admitted she had visited the holiday home twice in the past two weekends, in direct contradiction of her guidance for Scots to remain at home and avoid unnecessary travel.

Questioned about the discrepancy, Sturgeon revealed Dr Calderwood had only told her about one of the two visits on Saturday night, only disclosing the second trip the following day.

The First Minister said: “The statement that went out was a reflection of our understanding at that time of the reasons for her visit that weekend.

“That reflected the understanding we had, but she later made clear that there had been a second.”

The First Minister said the reasons for Dr Calderwood making the 44-mile journey between homes were “irrelevant” because “there was no justification for her having been at the house at one or two occasions because it was in breach of the guidance and advice that was issued”.

Sturgeon had originally wanted Dr Calderwood to remain in post, arguing that losing her would be “damaging” to the government’s coronavirus response.