A varied career has taken Alex McMahon from nursing student in a large psychiatric hospital to vital roles at the heart of the Scottish Government. Now a director at NHS Lothian, he talks to Daniel Allen about his career and the strategic challenges posed by an ageing population

ALEX MCMAHON had early ambitions to go to art college and perhaps teach. But careers advice while he was still at school steered him in a different direction and now, 30 years on, that change of tack looks to have been an inspired choice.