POST COVID INQUIRY: New role for Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid chief despite Inquiry report

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Professor Jason Leitch both played huge roles in governing our lives during the Covid 19 pandemic

by BILL HEANEY

Only in Scotland, where a judge has just criticised you and prominent others in a committee appointed to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, which made poor decisions worse and led to the deaths of elderly people, would you find yourself appointed to take charge of a top government post.

In other countries, you would most probably find yourself sitting at home on gardening leave instead of sitting in a prestigious office drawing down an eye-watering salary.

Professor Jason Leitch was the National Clinical Director throughout the health emergency, and was often seen on television at the daily briefings hosted by the then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.

However, Professor Leitch has since been criticised due to his deletion of important WhatsApp messages and some of the comments he exchanged about the killer pandemic with Humza Yousaf, who was then health secretary.

After stepping down from his role in March 2024, Professor Leitch, right, has now been appointed to take charge of the UK Government’s Defence Medical Command, a role many people will view as a reward for failure.

And now it has been revealed that a member of the Scottish Covid Bereaved Group, Margaret Waterton, whose husband and mother died from Covid, has criticised the decision to reward the medic with another taxpayer-funded role.

She said: “Professor Leitch’s appointment is yet another devastating blow for Scottish Covid Bereaved.

“Professor Leitch was one of the three most senior clinicians providing clinical advice to the former FM and Scottish Cabinet during the pandemic.

“Yet, during the UK Covid Inquiry hearings in Edinburgh, Professor Leitch had to be forced by the Counsel to the Inquiry to admit that his role had been giving advice to the decision makers.”

She added: “That advice included the catastrophic decision to discharge patients from hospitals to care homes, untested, resulting in the deaths of many vulnerable people, our loved ones.

“As Professor Leitch moves on, something which many of us struggle to do, we trust that he will reflect both on his role during the Covid pandemic, which devastated so many lives across Scotland including health and social care staff who gave their all in the pandemic.”

When the virus first arrived in Scotland, Mrs Waterton’s mother, Margaret Simpson, who was 86, told her: “If I get that I’ll be a goner.” She was shielding due to severe asthma and respiratory issues, but had to be admitted to University Hospital Wishaw in May 2020.

The family believes she contracted COVID in hospital as she had tested negative on admission, and she was also required to sign a Do Not Resuscitate notice despite being delirious.

Her health deteriorated again, and she was readmitted to a Covid ward in hospital where she died in June 2020.  The Health Board later apologised for asking her to sign a DNR.

Solicitor Aamer Anwar pictured with Margaret Waterton and Dr Cathy Mitchell.

Aged 71, he had chronic fatigue syndrome and complex sleep disorder, which affected his overall fitness, but he was otherwise healthy. He died in January 2021.

Members of the Scottish Covid Bereaved Group are also said to be dismayed by the appointment of former chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood to the presidency of the Medical Women’s Federation (MWF). Ms Calderwood was forced to step down in April 2020 after admitting twice breaching Covid regulations.

Leading human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar acts for the group. He said: “In 2024, the Scottish Covid Bereaved spoke out after the deletion of WhatsApp messages by the National Clinical Director, Jason Leitch, and those of course in Government.

“The industrial-scale deletion of the discussions around the decision-making meant it was impossible to properly scrutinise and interrogate the rationale.

He added: “Evidence was led at the UK Covid Inquiry that showed senior civil servants in group texts were asking others, including Jason Leitch, to delete the chat because it was ‘FOI-able’.

“This begs the question why there was an attempt to circumvent the FOI legislation, other than to escape scrutiny.

“An important principle of government should be transparency and accountability, so many of the Scottish Covid Bereaved are shocked to learn of Mr Leitch’s new appointment.”

Then National Clinical Director Jason Leitch leaves the UK Covid Inquiry in January 2024

Professor Leitch, who formally takes up his role next month, said in a statement: “It is a real privilege to be joining Defence Medical Command. I have spent my career improving healthcare and helping the people who deliver it to do their best work, and I am excited to bring that experience into defence, our patients and the operational needs of the Armed Forces.

“I look forward to working across Defence and with our partners to ensure Defence Medical is ready for whatever is asked of it.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Professor Jason Leitch CBE brings a vast range of expertise in clinical leadership, health policy and organisational transformation, which will be vital as we modernise Defence healthcare and deliver the best possible care for those who serve.