Kirkcaldy Health Centre: GP services to resume on Wednesday following gas works closure

NHS Fife confirmed that interim arrangements will remain in place for the rest of Tuesday before GP services return to the building on Wednesday morning. The adjoining Well Pharmacy will also reopen on Wednesday morning.

The three GP practices will then look to reintroduce services in full over the next couple of days.

The news comes as SGN, who had been carrying out the emergency gas repairs, said the centre could reopen safely while its engineers will continue to work on Whyteman’s Brae.

A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: “Due to the reduced service that has been running since the site closed last week, there will be a backlog of activity for practice teams to work through. If you had any scheduled appointments postponed, you will be contacted in due course.

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank patients for their continued patience and understanding during this challenging time, and to thank practice staff who have put in a significant amount of work behind the scenes to ensure that many patient-facing services have continued.”

The busy health centre on Whyteman’s Brae, which is home to three practices, was closed to patients and staff last Monday as SGN carried out urgent gas repairs.

It soon emerged that the issue with the gas supply, which had been discovered during maintenance works in the area, was more complex than engineers had originally thought and would take longer to repair.

The health centre remained closed all last week to ensure the safety of its staff and members of the public – although it had been due to be closed on Friday and again on Monday for the public holidays. The surgery remained closed on Tuesday following the Easter break.

The three practices based in the building – Dr Egerton and Partners; Drs McKenna and Murphy and Drs Fordyce, Lempke and Parish – were all impacted.

In an update today (Tuesday), a spokesperson for SGN said: “During the weekend our engineers confirmed there are now no gas readings in the health centre building, and it is safe to reoccupy.

“To prevent further gas leaks in the road and avoid future road closures, we have taken the decision to upgrade our gas main in Whyteman’s Brae to new, plastic pipe. This project will start tomorrow (Wednesday) and will be carried out under the current road closure.

“It’s too early to say how long this work will take but we’ll have more of an idea by the end of this week once work has started.”