CATHERINE Calderwood has quit as Scotland's chief medical officer after being caught flouting coronavirus lockdown rules with trips to her holiday home.
After resigning in disgrace, she apologised, saying: "I am deeply sorry for my actions and the mistakes I have made."
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Who is Dr Catherine Calderwood?
Dr Catherine Calderwood, 51, completed her undergraduate studies at Cambridge University, before qualifying as a medic from the University of Glasgow in 1993.
She worked as a junior doctor in Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh before specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology.
Her area of expertise was key to her involvement in helping to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths in Scotland since becoming an adviser to the government in 2010.
The doctor became chief medical officer for Scotland after more than two decades of work in the health service.
This included on the investigation into the deaths of mothers and newborn babies at Morecombe Bay.
She spent half a decade influencing policy and practise in the top medical job in Scotland before her resignation in disgrace.
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Why has Scotland's chief medical officer resigned?
Dr Calderwood was pictured walking with her family near their coastal holiday retreat in Earlsferry, Fife, on Saturday.
She later acknowledged having visited the home twice in the past fortnight - despite a nationwide lockdown being imposed to slow the spread of the killer bug.
The governments in both Westminster and Scotland have told people not to travel to second homes while the measures remain in place.
Police visited Dr Calderwood on Sunday morning and told her that the "laws apply to everyone".
Dr Calderwood's second home is 44 miles from her home in Edinburgh, from where just days ago she tweeted a snap of her family clapping for the NHS.
One source accused the doctor — who took the Hippocratic Oath to protect patients — of “dangerous double standards”.
And locals in the quiet coastal town hit out over the seemingly unnecessary trip, which came after a working week in Edinburgh where she spoke at daily pandemic press briefings alongside First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Residents accused her of failing to heed her own government’s advice that people with second properties should stay at home to protect rural communities during the outbreak.
Initially, Dr Calderwood declined to quit, although she said there were "no excuses" for "not following the advice she has been giving to others".
But, after widespread criticism over her flouting the rules, she announced her decision to step down.
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In a statement on Sunday night, she said: "I am deeply sorry for my actions and the mistakes I have made.
"The First Minister and I have had a further conversation this evening.
"We have agreed that the justifiable focus on my behaviour risks becoming a distraction from the hugely important job that government and the medical profession has to do in getting the country through this coronavirus pandemic.
"Having worked so hard on the government's response, that is the last thing I want."
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