Catherine Calderwood: a closer look at Scotland's CMO

Dr Catherine Calderwood is Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer, the most senior physician in the nation, whose role is to be the top adviser to ministers on a wide range of issues surrounding the health of Scotland’s citizens.

No one can doubt that the mother-of-three is stepping up to the mark as the Scottish National Health Service faces its greatest-ever challenge.

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Her television adverts have proven particularly popular – just her, and just talking sense about the coronavirus in her calm and measured tones, in which her Belfast accent is noticeable.

WHO IS SHE?

Catherine Calderwood was born in Belfast on Boxing Day in 1968. Her father, James Calderwood OBE, is an eminent retired surgeon, and her mother, Lesley, is a psychiatrist. Calderwood called this “an interesting combination [which] made for fascinating dinnertime discussions”.

Nicola Sturgeon gives daily briefings on the coronavirus in Scotland accompanied by Catherine Calderwood

She grew up during the time of the Troubles. Her father was an orthopaedic consultant in Belfast hospitals who had to deal with many knee-cappings, and from an early age her sole ambition was to become a doctor, telling her parents she wanted to find a cure for the flu.

She attended Belfast’s renowned Methodist College before moving to England to study at Cambridge University.

She was very athletic and could have rowed for the university. She has said she regrets not taking the time off to earn her Blue, but felt a year out was too much.

Calderwood moved to Glasgow University to take her medical degree, and worked in medical specialities in Glasgow Royal Infirmary and at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

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She cites Professor Ross Lorimer, her first consultant when she was a junior doctor at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, as a major influence – his sympathetic and charismatic manner had an abiding impression on her, as she told the British Medical Journal (BMJ): “He took an interest in everyone, from the alcoholic from the east end to the businessman from Bearsden, and he let them know that they were important to him.”

As a medical student she worked for a time in Uganda. In interviewsshe has told how she observed a doctor in a makeshift labour ward having to make a heartbreaking life-or-death decision. Two women needed a Caesarian section, but there was only one operating theatre, one set of equipment, and one doctor. The doctor chose the wealthier woman because the poorer woman’s baby would have less chance of survival.

Calderwood later told the BBC about the “extraordinarily harsh reality of life to face aged 20 – to think that you as a doctor might have to make a decision where you choose between two people”.

She decided in that moment to become an obstetrician and work to help provide healthcare resources worldwide so that such decisions will one day not need to be made.

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SO THAT WAS HER SPECIALISATION?

Though she gained an all-round training in medicine, Calderwood completed her specialist training in obstetrics, gynaecology and maternal medicine both here in Scotland and at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

In 2006 she joined NHS Lothian as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, setting up a maternal medicine antenatal clinic in Edinburgh at which she still sees patients – she is thought to be the only chief medical officer who does so.

In 2010, according to the Scottish Government’s biography, she became a medical adviser to the Government and has been “instrumental in the work in reducing stillbirths and neonatal deaths in Scotland and in reducing avoidable harm in maternity services.

“More recently her role expanded and work includes major trauma services and the introduction of robotic surgery for prostate cancer to Scotland.”

Sir Harry Burns preceded Catherine Calderwood in the role

In March 2013, as Scotland’s senior medical officer for women’s and children’s health, she helped launch the successful Maternity And Children Quality Improvement Collaborative.

Calderwood has strong connections to the other health services in these islands. She was the obstetrician on the panel of the Morecambe Bay Inquiry into maternity and neonatal services and was also the national clinical director for maternity and women’s health for NHS England – valuable experience in these days of international cooperation to beat Covid-19.

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WHEN DID SHE GET THE TOP JOB?

The retirement of Sir Harry Burns as chief medical officer in 2014 saw Calderwood step up from her role as acting deputy chief medical officer to the top job, in which she started in February 2015.

She is the first woman to hold the post, which goes back to the 1880s. The then health secretary, Shona Robison, said: “Catherine’s appointment will build on her already substantial achievements and reputation in Scotland and the UK. I very much look forward to working with her.”

One of her first pronouncements was that Scotland needed a dose of “realistic medicine” and she has tried to provide it, especially in these last few weeks.

In that BMJ interview she was asked to summarise her personality in three words. Let us all hope she remains as she said: “quick witted, optimistic and driven”. We need a quiet and confident voice that we know we can trust.