About NHS Fife
NHS Fife provides healthcare to the 370,000 residents of Fife and employs around 8,700 staff. As a large rural area with varied geography and several centres of population, there are particular challenges to meet the health needs of the people of Fife. Alongside the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, NHS Fife has 8 community hospitals spread throughout the Kingdom.
Improving Services Provided by NHS Fife
NHS Fife, along with help from its partners, the public, other NHS Boards, Fife Council and voluntary agencies, is working to improve its services.
Community Health Partnerships, utilising staff with a mixed skill-base, can strive to ensure that more problems can be dealt with taking away the need for onward referral to other departments. This has been possible due to the continuous development of services within NHS Fife.
NHS Fife recognises the importance in health promotion and has recently been tackling the issue of smoking. Smoking and the cessation of it has been heavily promoted to encourage smokers to quit and to work on prevention to stop people from starting in the first instance. This has been done simultaneously with addressing issues such as; alcohol abuse, the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and improving sexual health.
January 2012 saw the grand opening of the new wing at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. The new wing is home to NHS Fife’s acute services namely; Maternity Services, Intensive Care, Children’s Unit, Surgical and Medical Wards and A&E.
Moreover, Cupar’s Adamson Hospital has recently been redeveloped. The redevelopment was done by refurbishment and partial new building works. This has created “a new Physiotherapy Department, Out-Patient Department (containing a Minor Injuries Unit and Treatment Room), In-Patient Ward, X-Ray Department, Rehabilitation area, Administration offices and a Child Health Unit situated on the new first floor”.
In addition the Queen Margaret Hospital Dunfermline has work underway to rearrange the services it provides. It is here that a state-of-the-art diagnostic centre for Fife continues to be developed.
More information on NHS Fife can be found by visiting www.nhsfife.org.