PLANS for a new £33 million orthopaedic centre at the Victoria Hospital have been approved by Fife Council.

The new four-storey building in Kirkcaldy will lead to more hip and knee replacements being carried out as day cases, which means patients won't have to stay overnight.

At a cost of £33m, it's the largest capital project that NHS Fife has undertaken since the opening of the new wing at the Victoria Hospital in 2012.

Councillors on the central and west planning committee granted permission yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.

The landmark orthopaedic centre will have three operating theatres and 33 beds and will be built on land at car park H – new car parks are being created on hospital grounds to replace the 147 spaces that will be lost.

It will be connected to the main buildings by a 15-metre link bridge and the plans include landscaping and the creation of a garden area.

The business case was approved by health bosses at the end of November.

At the time, NHS Fife chair Tricia Marwick said: “I am so excited that we are giving the best orthopaedics team in Scotland the facilities they need to get even better.

“It is a service for all the people of Fife.”

She added: “Over recent years, Fife has become a centre of great innovation in orthopaedic surgery, pioneering hip and knee replacement as day cases and becoming the first board in Scotland to do so.

“The development of the new centre will help safeguard the provision of this high-performing, essential clinical service for many years to come."

Orthopaedic services have been delivered across multiple sites within NHS Fife, including the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.

The board said that centralising the service at the Victoria would improve efficiency, increase capacity and reduce the need for clinical staff to travel between different sites.

In a report, council planner Bryan Reid advised that, despite the loss of parking spaces, Fife Council would not be extending its residents' parking scheme for those living in the immediate area of Victoria Hospital.

It had been introduced to reduce the number of people parking on nearby residential streets.

He added that "existing parking issues are a matter for NHS Fife to resolve".

At the meeting, an attempt by Cllr Mino Manekshaw to require NHS Fife to keep the 147 spaces together was thrown out when officers confirmed that the most remote car parking spaces would be allocated to staff, with existing staff parking closer to the hospital being reallocated to the public.

He said: “If it’s there and we’re happy (I can accept that) – what I don’t want to have is a huge flurry of complaints we would have if people have to start driving around Kirkcaldy looking for a parking place if they’re trying to get into a clinic.”

The proposals were thereafter moved unanimously.