The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
NHS Fife’s radical plans to cope with pressure
Covid-19 assessment centre set up and red and green zones marked out in hospital
NHS Fife has set up a Covid-19 assessment centre and reconfigured Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy as part of radical plans to deal with the virus.
All routine outpatient and diagnostic appointments and most planned operations will be postponed amid an anticipated increase in the number of critically ill patients in need of hospital care.
The board said the moves would help ensure the region’s healthcare services were as resilient as they could be as pressure intensified in the coming weeks.
A number of service changes have been made to minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission in the hospital and safeguard the most vulnerable.
All non-urgent appointments and operations at Victoria Hospital will be called off from March 30, although emergency and cancer surgery and planned caesarean sections will continue.
Procedures at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline will continue for the time being.
Services delivered from the diabetes centre at Victoria Hospital will cease from this Monday so it can be used to accommodate the new Covid-19 assessment centre.
A limited diabetes service will still be offered at Queen Margaret Hospital.
Also from Monday, a primary care virtual hub will be created so anyone calling NHS 24 will be triaged and either offered advice on self-care at home or directed to the hub, where a team of clinicians will conduct assessments by phone or video call.
Anyone requiring a face-to-face assessment will be seen at the Covid-19 centre, set to operate round the clock.
Those in need of immediate intervention will be taken directly to Victoria Hospital.
To manage the changes, the Victoria has been split into two distinct zones.
A red zone will apply to the emergency department, critical care, infectious diseases and one medical ward, with scope to expand it if needed. This zone will accommodate Covid-19 patients.
The remaining areas of the hospital, as well as Queen Margaret Hospital, are in the green zone.
NHS Fife has stressed there are no medicine shortages and no need to stockpile drugs or request additional prescriptions, but it warned that additional service changes are likely.
NHS Fife chief executive Carol Potter said: “It’s crucial that we put the necessary measures in place to prepare our services for the significantly increased demand over the coming weeks and months.”