THE ex-boss of the scandal-hit NHS Tayside went on sick leave the day after being effectively sacked, MSPs heard yesterday.

NHS Scotland chief executive Paul Gray said Lesley McLay had not been dismissed by the health board, although she was no longer its chief executive.

SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison has faced pressure to quit over a financial scandal at NHS Tayside.

The health board, which serves Ms Robison’s constituency, is also under fire over the suicides of a number of men whose families say they were failed by a Dundee mental health unit.

Mr Gray said Ms McLay had been “signed off sick by her doctor” the morning after she had been relieved of her duties as chief executive, but “when she is able to return to work we will agree with her what her future employment status should be.”

Former health secretary Alex Neil said the situation smacks of a “two-tier system” operating in the health service that benefits senior staff.

He said: “If you are a porter or a nurse, that doesn’t happen to you, you are off the premises more or less right away.

“How do you get dismissed as chief executive and remain an employee? If anybody is dismissed from a job, you are dismissed.”