Minister for Public Finance, Ivan McKee MSP, visited Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline today (19/11) to find out more about the work to maximise productivity in planned surgical care.
Mr McKee MSP visited the hospital's ophthalmology department to see the innovative 'Jack and Jill' cataract unit, which enables a single surgeon to work simultaneously across two adjoining theatres. Since its opening in 2019, the ‘Jack and Jill’ has been helping to minimise waiting times for cataract surgery but enabling more patients to be seen during each session.
The Minister’s also visited Day Surgery and Urology to hear more about how many more patients are now safely being carried out as day cases. Mr McKee MSP was given a tour of the Prostate Treatment Centre at Queen Margaret Hospital, which enables some treatments for enlarged prostate to be carried out as an outpatient appointment using of local anaesthetic, freeing up valuable operating theatre time for use by other surgical specialities.
The final stop on the visit saw Mr McKee visit the Regional Endoscopy Unit to hear how patients from across Fife and Lothian are benefiting from less invasive diagnostic procedures such as Cytosponge to help detect cancer cells before they are even visible, which is especially useful in the detection of oesophageal cancer and is helping reduce waiting times.
