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Jason Leitch joins board of private surgery firm

BBC Jason LeitchBBC
Jason Leitch left his role as national clinical director in April

Scotland's former national clinical director Jason Leitch has joined the board of a private healthcare firm.

Prof Leitch, who helped lead the country's response to the Covid pandemic, resigned from his government post after giving evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry.

At the time he said he said his former role had been a privilege but he was looking for more challenges in the health and care sector.

Elanic Medical confirmed Prof Leitch had taken on a part-time role as a non-executive director with a focus on clinical governance.

The firm has a cosmetic surgery clinic in Glasgow city centre and is expanding its facilities to provide more routine operations.

Elanic Medical Prof Jason Leitch and Vivek Sivarajan in the Elanic Medical
Elanic Medical published photos of Jason Leitch viewing construction of its new private hospital last month

It currently offers cosmetic surgery, gender surgery and routine elective operations such as hip and knee replacements.

The company, which also has facilities in Edinburgh, London and Manchester, is building a 15,000 sq ft hospital above its clinic in Glasgow's Bath Street.

Last month it published photos of Jason Leitch viewing construction of the new facilities with medical director Vivek Sivarajan.

Google Elanic Medical clinic in Bath Street, GlasgowGoogle
Elanic Medical plans to open new facilities above its clinic in Bath Street, Glasgow this summer

Prof Leitch, a qualified dentist and consultant oral surgeon, worked for the Scottish government from 2007 on a secondment from NHS Tayside and became a household name during the Covid pandemic.

He often represented the Scottish government in media briefings and became a regular guest on TV and radio programmes, including BBC Radio Scotland's popular football show Off The Ball.

Prof Leitch was awarded a CBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours.

He announced he was stepping down in March, a short time after he gave evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry.

The inquiry had heard about online discussions in which he described deleting WhatsApp messages linked to the Covid response as a "pre-bed ritual"

In evidence he claimed this was a "flippant exaggeration".

At the time of his resignation he said fulfilling his role as national clinical director had been a huge privilege but that he now wanted to look for more challenges in the health and care sector and work with charities.