‘Easier to have sacked medic earlier’
NICOLA STURGEON has said it ‘may have been easier’ to sack Scotland’s chief medical officer immediately after it emerged she had not followed social distancing rules.
The country’s first minister had backed Dr Catherine Calderwood, who apologised after twice visiting her second home in Fife.
But, after further conversations with Ms Sturgeon, Dr Calderwood resigned ‘with a heavy heart’ on Sunday.
Speaking on the BBC’s Breakfast yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said, by Sunday night, she had formed the ‘firm view’ Dr Calderwood should leave her post.
She said guidance to stay at home was at risk of being ‘drowned out or undermined’ – and the chief medical officer agreed. Ms Sturgeon was earlier questioned on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about why Dr Calderwood was not sacked immediately. She said: ‘It may have been easier for me to have done that. All I can do is set out the good faith in which I’m trying to take the judgment that I am taking, not just on this but on a whole range of things.’
Ms Sturgeon said her focus was ‘to steer the country through this virus and I think continuity of her advice was important in that’.
Dr Calderwood apologised after photos of her and her family near a coastal retreat in Earlsferry were printed in The Scottish Sun on Saturday.
The 1-year-old, who was issued with a police warning, told the press briefing in Edinburgh on Sunday that she had also visited the property in Fife last weekend with her husband.
She will now work with her team ‘over the next few days to ensure a smooth transition’ to her successor, deputy medical officer Dr Gregor Smith.
In her statement, Dr Calderwood said: ‘I am deeply sorry for my actions and the mistakes I have made.’