Ex-Chief Medical Officer excused from giving evidence to Covid Inquiry

The medic had previously been given a year’s grace in December 2023 when she was deemed to be unfit to provide evidence.

In a statement published on the inquiry website, Baroness Hallett said she had reviewed medical updates provided by the ex-CMO over the last year. 

She said: “I am satisfied that Dr Calderwood should be excused from further participation in the inquiry. I will review in the event that the situation changes.”

READ MORE

Dr Calderwood was appointed as national clinical director of the Centre for Sustainable Delivery at the Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank in 2021 but left that role last year. 

She was appointed as professor of practice at the University of Strathclyde in September 2023, and joined the board of Women in Sport, a charity that aims to tackle inequality, in May this year.

(Image: Getty) Dr Calderwood resigned as chief medical officer in April 2020 – two weeks after the UK-wide lockdown was imposed on 23 March.

She had been given a police warning for breaking the rules by making two trips to her second home in Earlsferry in Fife with her family, more than an hour’s drive from her main home in Edinburgh.

The former chief medical officer was a prominent figure in the early days of the pandemic, regularly at the side of Nicola Sturgeon during her televised updates.

She also appeared on  TV and radio adverts urging the public to stay at home to save lives and protect the NHS.