Changes to services

For emergencies and minor injuries, operational times remain as follows:

• Victoria Hospital: operates 24/7
• Queen Margaret Hospital: operates 24/7
• Adamson Hospital: operates Monday to Friday 8am-6pm^*
• St Andrews Community Hospital: operate Monday to Friday 8am-6pm*

^*Out with these times and on public holidays call NHS 24 on 111.

Do not delay in getting potential cancer signs and symptoms checked. During COVID-19 your GP practice is still here for you. It’s probably nothing serious, but it’s best to get checked, as the earlier cancer is found the easier it is to treat. Information on the common signs and symptoms of cancer can be found at getcheckedearly.org.

If you or anyone in your household notices a rapid deterioration in their health, seek help immediately. Do not ignore the early warning signs of serious conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, severe asthma, or diabetic collapse. The NHS is still here for you. Call 999 for an emergency or your GP in normal hours and 111 for out of hours support.

The full ranges of birth options are currently available across NHS Fife, including home birth. However there are temporary changes to visiting arrangements in this area which are particular to maternity.  These are as follows:

• Pregnant women may identify 1 designated visitor to accompany them to their scans and antenatal appointments
• Pregnant women may identify 1 birth partner and 1 additional designated visitor, if requested to visit them when in labour
• Pregnant women may identify 1 designated visitor (as well as their birth partner) to visit them on the postnatal ward
• Birth partners and designated visitors will be asked to wear face coverings when they are with the pregnant woman during her labour, birth and on the ward and they will be asked to wash their hands and use hand gel frequently

For visiting arrangements in other wards please visit out Visiting page.

Pharmacy and Medicines  

There are currently no medicines shortages as a result of COVID-19. There is no need to stockpile medicines or request additional prescriptions.  If you are experiencing symptoms and need to stay at home, family members or neighbours can collect prescriptions on your behalf.  If you normally have your prescription medicines delivered and are symptomatic, this will not change, however, doorstep procedures may be implemented. 

The way you receive your prescription medicines may have changed due to the pandemic and prescriptions can sometimes take longer than before to be processed.

If for any reason your usual pharmacy is temporarily closed, NHS inform has a complete list of pharmacies, where you can search for your nearest open pharmacy.

Serial Prescriptions

If you receive regular repeat prescription medicines, you may be eligible for a serial prescription.  Instead of ordering your medicines every one or two months, your GP will issue a long-term prescription which will last for 24, 48 or 56 weeks.  You can then collect your medicines from your pharmacy every four or eight weeks.

You will no longer need to order from the GP practice and your medicines will be ready to collect from the pharmacy when you need them.

Find out more by asking at your pharmacy or GP practice and on the NHS Inform website.

Managing Prescribed Sharps Safely

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and additional demands being placed on local pharmacies, it may not be possible for them to take prescribed sharps waste.  In this case, we would ask that you retain your sharps waste safely within your home.  

Please ensure that you:  

• Do not overfill the sharps waste container and seal when the recommended level is reached.  
• Store filled and sealed containers safely at home until community pharmacies can accept the waste again.  
• Do not put sharps waste into your household waste.  

Patients can obtain additional empty sharps waste containers from their community pharmacy.  

If you are unable to store this waste safely at home or do not have someone who can help you to store this safely, please contact: Pharmacy Services - 01383 565351.

Prescriptions from Hospital Specialist Service  

If your medicines are prescribed by a hospital Specialist Service please contact the appropriate hospital below to confirm that your medicine is ready for collection:  

Pharmacy Dispensary at Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline
Telephone: 01383 623623 ext 24734
Opening times:
Mon - Fri (09:00 – 17:00)  

or

Pharmacy Dispensary at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
Telephone: 01383 623623 ext 21542
Opening times:
Mon - Fri (09:00 - 18:00) (09:00 - 17:00 on Public Holidays)
Sat (09:00 - 13:00)
Sun (10:00 - 13:30)  

If your medication is not ready, please contact the Prescriber to arrange a prescription.  

If your medicine is ready and you have a representative who can collect this for you, please ask them to collect it.  They will be required to show some identification (driving licence, a bank card or passport).

Pharmacy First 

NHS Pharmacy First Scotland is an NHS service provided by your local community pharmacy. 

You can use NHS Pharmacy First Scotland if you are registered with a GP practice in Scotland or you live in Scotland.

If you have a minor illness, a pharmacy is the first place you should go for advice. You do not usually need an appointment and you can go to any pharmacy.

Your pharmacist can give you advice for a minor illness, and medicine if they think you need it. For more information, see visit the NHS Inform website.

As from 4th August all practices can now offer routine eye examinations although they must prioritise emergency and essential eye care. Every practice will have special COVID-19 measures in place including the optometrist wearing full PPE during the eye examination. In addition, any staff having to come within 2m also have to wear full PPE. All practices will have limits on how many people can be in their premises at one time and this will vary markedly depending on the size. Some will have to work with a locked door policy in order to control this. Please phone your practice first for advice on attending and arranging an appointment. Check optician practice availability.

Advice for a patient currently registered with a dentist:

Access to dental surgeries will continue to be carefully planned during phase 3 of recovery. Dentists will provide a limited service.

Do not visit your dentist unannounced - you should telephone your practice on their usual number.

If you feel you have an urgent dental need, in normal working hours, you should contact your dental practice, who will provide advice, reassurance or a telephone assessment. The NHS Inform website has a postcode search function to aid with accessing your dental practice contact details.

Your dentist will be able to give you advice and assessment.

If your dentist confirms that you have an urgent dental need that requires a face to face appointment, the dentist will make arrangements for you to receive face to face care either in your normal practice or another branch practice as deemed appropriate.

Outside normal working hours, if you feel you have an urgent dental need, please contact NHS24 on 111. For routine issues and enquiries you can contact your dental practice directly during normal working hours.

Advice for a patient currently unregistered with a dentist:

Access to dental surgeries will continue to be carefully planned during phase 3 of recovery. Dentists will provide a limited service focused on urgent dental problems only.

For urgent Dental Problems you can call the NHS Fife Dental Advice Line on 01592 226555 to access advice and assessment. If our clinical team assess that you have an urgent dental problem you may be provided with an appointment to attend an urgent dental care centre.

Outside normal working hours, if feel you have an urgent dental need, please contact NHS24 on 111.

Do not visit a dental surgery unannounced - if you wish to find out if you can access urgent or routine treatment at your nearest dental practice you should telephone the dental practice in advance. The NHS Inform website has a postcode search function to aid with accessing your nearest dental practice contact details.

Fife HSCP is appealing to everyone receiving help from home carers to stick to social distancing guidance.

We understand that these are very difficult times especially for those who are more vulnerable. Our front-line home carers are there to provide the vital support they need to live at home and maintain their independence. For the safety of home care workers and the protection of service users we are asking that no family members or friends, who do not live in the household, are in the house when home carers go in to do their work. Although this is not a situation that is arising often, we are appealing to everyone to stick to the social distancing guidance that we have all been given.

Guidance on care homes can be found on the Scottish Government website.

Screening programmes

Some NHS Scotland national screening programmes which were paused in March because of coronavirus are set to resume safely, carefully and in a series of stages.

Immunisation Programmes

For further information around vaccination or immunisation programmes for the following groups please visit the NHS Inform website.

• Immunisations for children aged up to 5 years,
• Immunisations for young people at secondary school,
• pregnant women,
• Shingles immunisations for adults aged 70-79 years,
• Pneumococcal immunisations for those in risk groups aged 2 - 64 years and those aged 65 years and over

Seasonal Flu programme

The seasonal flu programme is now underway in Fife with some necessary changes to the way in which vulnerable groups receive their flu injections due to the COVID-19 situation.  You can find out more about who’s eligible and how to access flu vaccinations information in our seasonal flu section.

Temporary changes to the Health Visiting Service

The Health Visiting Service across Fife is scaling back some routine contacts in line with Scottish Government resilience planning, and as part of Fife NHS / Health & Social Care Partnership (H&SCP) Contingency Arrangements.

This means that you may not receive a full health visiting service and your child may not receive their next routing child health review. Scheduled home contacts will resume as soon as realistically safe to do so. You can find the following information in your child’s red book

• Full contact details for your Health Visiting Team - (24 hour answer machine checked regularly)
• Details of routine health reviews
• Information which describes age typical development

Important:

Immunisations appointments will continue to be offered as per NHS Health Scotland immunisation schedule. If you have any queries please contact the immunisation team direct on: (01383) 565 456.

If you have any health concerns about your child please consult NHS Inform  and / or call NHS 24 on 111