Thursday notes

Very cold start to the day with heavy showers of hail, sleet and snow. The radar shows a rash of them on their way to our coast. Gales overnight will herald a transition to a mild Friday, with maximum temps of 10C, as opposed to 5C today (50F and 40F respectively).

The NHS in the Western Isles is once more under scrutiny when it became clear that the Chief Executive, suspended on full pay in August, is still suspended on full pay, 5 months later. He is enjoying an annual salary of £100,000 ($200,000), which boils down to £2,000 ($4,000) per week - for doing nothing. He was suspended after irregularities were discovered in the CV he had used for applying for the job a year ago. His salary could pay the wages of 5 nurses, and an outcry has arisen over the lack of action from Health Board managers. NHS WI was rocked by allegations of bullying and harassment by senior management and is hampered by an unresolved shortfall of £3.5m ($7m), although the Finance Director had promised a break-even point come this April. The FD came into post with a £77k relocation package.