NHS Fife: State-of-the-art orthopaedic centre in Kirkcaldy moves closer to opening

The £33m facility’s construction phase came to an end on Monday.

NHS Fife will have teams preparing the centre over the coming weeks ahead of welcoming patients in due course.

Carol Potter, chief executive, updated the NHS Fife Board with the latest developments at a meeting on Tuesday.

She said: “I’m really pleased to say that yesterday marked a major milestone around the National Treatment Centre for Fife orthopaedics as we moved from the construction phase into commissioning. Myself and a number of the directors had the pleasure of having a walk around the site yesterday – first time without our hard hats on.

"Over the course of the next month we’ll be preparing the centre to receive the first patients in early March. I’d certainlylike to pass on a huge thanks to everyone involved from Graham Construction through to the Project Team and many many other folk, too many to mention at this point in time.”

The state of the art facility features three operating theatres, a supporting inpatient ward and associated outpatient facilities. It aims to help improve the flow of patients, staff and visitors around the wider hospital site.

The three-storey facility will make Fife the first NHS region in Scotland to carry out hip and knee replacements as day cases not requiring overnight stays.

Work on the new centre – the largest capital project NHS Fife has undertaken since the opening of the new wing of the Victoria Hospital in 2012 – began in March 2021.

The original planned completion date on site had been September 2022, however works were delayed and the facility is yet to open.

Speaking last year, Ms Potter said the demand for orthopaedic procedures in Fife continues to increase and will continue to do so in future. She said: “We are incredibly fortunate here to have one of the most innovative and forward-thinking orthopaedic teams in the country. This new centre will help us both in our efforts to meet that demand, and deliver care in a new, modern, state-of-the-art facility.”