The new £2m Procedure Unit at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline has been officially opened by acting Chair of the NHS Fife Board, Alistair Morris.
The new Unit, which opened to patients in September 2023, is designed to increase capacity for day surgery and improve the overall experience for patients attending for procedures.
Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline has become a centre of excellence for day surgery in recent years, serving patients from across the length and breadth of Fife and carrying out around 7,400 procedures each year. The hospital has been at the forefront of pioneering new cutting-edge surgical procedures in a number of specialities including cancer, urology and gynaecology.
The unique setup for day surgery at Queen Margaret meant that the hospital was able to continue its surgical programme throughout almost the entirety of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to minimise waiting times when most other parts of the country had to pause all non-urgent surgery due to the pressures on services.
The project to reconfigure underutilised areas within the hospital’s Day Surgery Unit began in February 2021. These works have enabled the creation of a new Unit within Day Surgery through capital investment of £2m.
Completion of the Unit now enables patients having procedures under local anaesthetic to be admitted straight into the theatre suite rather than the adjoining day surgery ward. This frees up beds within the ward for patients requiring general anaesthetic and will help increase overall theatre capacity as a result.
In addition to increasing capacity, the reconfiguration of the area is intended to improve the patient experience by providing care in a more modern, purpose-built environment.
Chair of the Fife NHS Board, Alistair Morris, said:
“I was delighted to officially open the new Procedure Unit at Queen Margaret Hospital.
“Queen Margaret Hospital has truly become a centre of excellence in day surgery over recent years, pioneering many new surgical innovations ahead of anywhere else in the country.
“With many more procedures now able to be carried out as day-cases, it is vitally important that we maximise our day surgery capacity wherever possible, particularly given the impact the pandemic has had on waiting times.
“This new Unit will not only help us increase surgical capacity, but it enables us to provide care in a new, bright and purpose-built setting which helps us improve the experience for patients also.”
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