A range of works will begin next month to further enhance gynaecological care available to women in Fife.

The inpatient gynaecology service at the Victoria Hospital moved to a dedicated area within the Women and Children’s Unit of the hospital prior to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a programme to optimise the use of healthcare facilities in Fife.

Works to enhance the physical environment, which were due to commence in 2020, had to be postponed due to the pandemic. The project to enhance gynaecology was resumed last year and the works are now scheduled to begin in February 2023, with completion expected in late spring 2023.

The £400,000 project will see the layout revised to provide a bespoke triage area, five side rooms, a three-bed bay area and a separate early pregnancy clinic, along with an increase in the number of in-patient beds within the ward from six to 10. Works will also include enhancements to sound-proofing and new signage for the service.

The plans for these enhancements to develop the environment were informed by clinicians and feedback from gynaecology patients.

Director of Acute Services, Claire Dobson, said:

“The works to improve the physical environment for women using our gynaecology service has been planned for a number of years, however, the COVID-19 pandemic means we are only now in a position to begin these works.

“We want to provide the very best level of service we can to patients, and we have an excellent team of clinicians and support staff within our gynaecology service. We are acutely aware of the emotional needs of patients accessing the service and have always maintained complete separation of gynaecology and maternity patients through separate exit and entry points and dedicated areas for each group.

“We have recognised for some time that we can take that even further, and not only will this work allow us to increase the number of beds within our gynaecology unit from 6 to 10, the enhancements will also support our highly-skilled gynaecology team in providing an excellent quality of care to women in Fife.”

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Notes to Editor:

  • The inpatient gynaecology service was previously located in Ward 32 and moved prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to a new area within the footprint of Ward 24 as part of a programme to optimise the use of our facilities. This enabled our medicine of the elderly ward to move to a newer part of the hospital to help improve the care of vulnerable older patients and allowed our gynaecology service to move closer to our theatres and critical care.
  • An initial refurbishment was completed as part of this move and women in Fife have continued to have access to the full range of gynaecology services throughout.
  • Women attending the gynaecology service currently access through the main entrance of the hospital using separate corridors to those visiting our maternity area. There are distinct and different entry and exits points to Ward 24 to ensure complete separation for each patient group.