Staff redeployed to Ninewells during the Covid crisis are returning to Stracathro Hospital in Angus, allowing surgery to restart.
Operating theatres and the hospital’s minor surgical unit have reopened as NHS Tayside work to get services suspended during the pandemic back up and running.
Medics from the Brechin hospital were redeployed during the coronavirus pandemic, with their skills put to use as part of the health board’s dedicated response at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
With the number of patients with Covid-19 requiring hospital care at Ninewells stabilising, NHS Tayside said the team has been able to return to their specialist roles at Stracathro, enabling full surgical services to resume.
The busy hospital undertakes planned operations spanning innovative orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery and dental surgery.
Angus hospital medics thanked for Covid response
Four operating theatres and the surgical minor procedures unit are fully operational and the surgical unit ward will also be open for inpatients and day cases.
Lesley Forsyth, clinical group manager at Stracathro Regional Treatment Centre said: “We are delighted to welcome our staff back to Stracathro.
“The remobilisation of services also sees the restart of elective orthopaedic operations every week at Stracathro.”
Some 100 orthopaedic procedures, including joint replacements, can be carried out every month at the hospital.
Ms Forsyth added: “We are looking forward to welcoming patients back through our doors with more people now able to have the operations they have been waiting for.”
Mrs Lorna Birse-Stewart, chair of NHS Tayside, said the hospital was a “critical part” of the remobilisation plan for the health board.
Surgical backlog
“I would like to thank staff from Stracathro who were redeployed to join colleagues in Ninewells to care for patients and help face the dual challenges of winter and Covid.
“The NHS Tayside Remobilisation Plan sets out our priorities to be delivered now and over the coming months in order to start to address the backlog in care and meet the ongoing healthcare needs for people across Tayside.
“It is very encouraging to see surgical services resume at Stracathro as part of these plans which will mean staff – and the people of Tayside – will benefit from this positive progress.”
