Non-urgent treatment poised to resume

Mental health and primary care will be among the first services introduced by NHS Fife as it gradually restarts routine healthcare.

While the focus will remain on urgent and cancer care, the board has published a number of priorities as it begins nonurgent treatment over the coming weeks.

In-patient numbers will also be managed to ensure there is enough hospital capacity should there be a spike in Covid-19 cases.

NHS Fife warned, however, services will be different as the need to maintain physical distancing continues and there will be more video and phone consultations rather than face-to-face meetings with medical staff.

All non-urgent services were halted in March as Scotland’s NHS boards responded to the pandemic, with only patients with urgent clinical needs receiving life-saving treatment.

A remobilisation plan has now been revealed, setting out how both hospital and community-based healthcare will begin to resume up to the end of July.

Medical director Dr Christopher McKenna said: “We want to remobilise services as quickly and safely as we possibly can, however it is important to be aware that this process will likely be gradual and driven by clinical need.

“A significant amount of work was undertaken to prepare healthcare services in the weeks leading up to the first positive cases of Covid-19.

“These measures ensured that as an organisation we remained resilient ahead of the anticipated increase in demand and allowed us to manage our services safely and effectively, even when demand was at its peak.

“While the aspiration remains to return to full service as soon as is practically possible, it is crucial that we do so safely and in a manner that allows us to continue to meet the urgent and immediate health needs of the population.”

NHS Fife chief executive Carol Potter said it was counting on the continued support of the public to ensure patient and staff safety.

“The level of support local people have shown us to this point has been truly remarkable,” she said.