CENTRAL Fife residents could soon benefit from the largest captial project that NHS Fife has undertaken in nearly ten years.

Construction work has commenced on the new £33m Fife Elective Orthopaedic Centre at the Victoria Hospital.

It is expected to take 18 months to complete.

The project will see the creation of a state-of-the-art facility hosting three operating theatres, a supporting inpatient ward and associated outpatient facilities.

Planning permission was granted for the new Orthopaedic Centre earlier this year and ground has now been broken on the new build.

Following submission of the Full Business Case to the Scottish Government’s Capital Investment Group in late 2020, NHS Fife recently received formal approval for the project which has allowed the construction of the new facility to commence.

The new facility will be built on the grounds of the Victoria Hospital opposite the entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department in what is currently Car Park H.

Car parking spaces lost by the development are currently being replaced elsewhere on the hospital site and the recently announced expansion of Car Park L will result in a net increase of around 140 spaces.

The Fife Elective Orthopaedic Centre is the largest capital project that NHS Fife has undertaken since the opening of the new wing of the Victoria Hospital in 2012.

The new centre will ensure that NHS Fife’s orthopaedic services are able meet the increasing demand for orthopaedic interventions, like hip or knee replacements, with such interventions now amongst the most common surgical procedures undertaken by the NHS in Scotland.