Wards reopen after Covid

THREE specialist orthopaedic surgery wards that were used for Covid patients have reopened at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Surgical teams are returning to the unit as NHS Tayside restarts services impacted by coronavirus.

Staff were remobilised to other areas as part of the response to the crisis, while ward 17 was a Covid surgical unit.

The change will allow wards 18 and 19 to reopen, making more than 70 beds across the three wards and the major trauma unit available for orthopaedic patients.

Pre-pandemic activity is beginning to resume at Ninewells, including major trauma and urgent and complex elective surgery such as reconstructions and spinal operations. It comes after orthopaedics restarted at Stracathro in Angus and Perth Royal Infirmary.

Ben Clift, consultant orthopaedic surgeon said: “We are really conscious that people have waited patiently as Covid has impacted on our services so our teams are delighted to return to these specialist facilities and have the full orthopaedic surgical service in place again.

He said: “Our teams are delighted to return to these specialist facilities and have the full orthopaedic surgical service in place again. We are working hard to increase the number of procedures we can carry out and minimise the length of time people need to spend in hospital so that we can see as many patients as quickly as possible.”

Professor Grant Archibald, NHS Tayside chief executive, said: “We are continuing to work through our remobilisation plan to increase activity in our hospitals and communities.

“Having the orthopaedic surgical service back in all three sites is a major milestone in our step-up plans.”