Scotland’s chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood ignores own advice

Scotland’s chief medical officer forced to apologise after it was revealed she twice drove more than an hour to visit her family’s rural retreat.

Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood. Picture: AFP

Do as I say, don’t do what I do. In the latest top level embarrassment surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, Scotland’s chief medical officer was forced to apologise after ignoring her own official advice and twice visiting her family’s rural retreat.

Doctor Catherine Calderwood said her actions were “a mistake and human error” and that were “no excuses” but the Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has refused to accept her offer of resignation.

The embarrassing gaffe came after a Sunday newspaper, the Scottish Sun, published photographs of Dr Calderwood at her country home in Fyfe, more than an hour’s drive from her usual residence in Edinburgh. This was despite her own advice that people had to stay inside and only travel for essential medical, shopping or work reasons.

Dr Calderwood’s faux pas follows the spread of coronavirus throughout the top levels of the Boris Johnson government soon after the publication of photographs showing the politicians and senior advisers failing to adhere to their own 2m distancing rules.

The prime minister, the top medical adviser Professor Chris Whitty, the heath secretary Matt Hancock and two other cabinet ministers came down with coronavirus within hours of each other nine days ago.

Dr Calderwood said her visits to her second home “were not legitimate reasons to be out of my home”.

She added: “While I and my family followed the guidance on social distancing at all times, I understand that I did not follow the advice I am giving to others, and I am truly sorry for that.

“I know how important this advice is and I do not want my mistake to distract from that.

“I have a job to do as chief medical officer to provide advice to ministers on the path of this virus and to support the medical profession as they work night and day to save lives, and having spoken with the First Minister this morning I will continue to focus entirely on that job.”

Police Scotland’s Chief Constable, Iain Livingston, said Dr Calderwood had been given an official warning.

The Scottish Government had previously warned people about travelling to more isolated areas of Scotland to try tto isolate from the virus.

The Scottish Conservative leader, Jackson Carlaw, said: “Dr Calderwood’s position is very difficult, untenable even, given the damage this has caused public trust.

“The vast majority of Scots are complying with official advice to stay at home and protect the NHS.

“There cannot be one rule for the bosses and another for everyone else.”

Meanwhile Labour’s Angela Rayner has criticised Mr Hancock for not isolating longer after suffering coronavirus.

Mr Hancock was in isolation for six days, but the test was taken the day prior. UK government advice is to isolate for seven days if in a single household or two weeks if living with a family.

The UK death toll has reached 4,934, with the daily increase of 621 deaths announced on Sunday.

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries says if a large number of people were found to be immune to the coronavirus it could result in “interventions” being lifted “sooner or later”

But she warned “lifting the lid too soon” could lead to another spike.

“If we find that there are areas where there have been less cases, we need to be very mindful what would happen if the social interaction levels increased in those area and what the impact might be.

“The very last thing we want to do is put in all of this effort with almost everybody trying to do the right thing and then we lift the lid too early and we find we have a second spike, it will waste the effort we have put in and we still need to get over that first hump of the epidemic curve,” she said.