The campaign for a replacement health centre for Lochgelly has gathered pace with the first of a series of public meetings.
Organised by Lochgelly Community Council, invitations were sent to all local councillors and doctors.
Community council chairman Brian Schulz said the current health centre is more than 30 years old and is “past its sell-by date”.
“When the health centre was built, we didn’t have the same level of population that we have now with the development of the Beeches and New Farm Vale housing schemes,” he said.
“The practice wasn’t expected to provide health cover for areas outwith the town.
“It is evident as soon as you enter the property that it isn’t suitable for the volume of people who are using it.
“The structure itself is crumbling and despite the best efforts of staff it cannot be maintained to a safe standard.”
Councillor Mark Hood added: “Lochgelly doesn’t only deserve a new health centre, it desperately needs one.
“The community council area has a higher level of people with more than one significant illness in comparison with Fife and Scotland, a higher level of prescribed medication for mental health than Fife and Scotland and is an area of multi-deprivation.
“The statistics available show that the town needs a health centre that is able to support the people of the town and able to provide the focused services needed in the area.”
He added the community council had instigated a health round table that allowed services to focus on what type of support can be provided.
That saw work with professionals to ensure that people were signposted in the right direction to help.
“The unfortunate reality is though that the health centre simply cannot cope with the number of services needed to tackle the multitude of problems that exist across the town.”
Councillor Linda Erskine added Lochgelly is a development area on FifePlan and this will see 1,800 new homes being built over the coming years.
“This will add more strain to the existing building,” she said.
“When you see the new health centre built in Glenrothes, to serve an area with less population than ours, it is clear that there is justification for this campaign.”
Mr Schulz added: “This is not an attack on the staff or the GPs who work selflessly and tirelessly in the building, this is a call for urgent intervention to take place.
“It cannot be seen as a political issue either, all parties should unite to support this campaign.
“The people of Lochgelly deserve better than we currently have and we will continue with this campaign until we get a satisfactory solution.”
Photo by George McLuskie