A number of routine and non-urgent operations and procedures due to take place in Fife hospitals have been postponed.
NHS Fife said it was scaling back procedures in line with the Scottish Government’s resilience planning to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, which was announced on Friday.
Any patients affected will be contacted directly and health chiefs said operations would be rescheduled as soon as possible.
NHS Fife medical director, Dr Chris McKenna, said: “In line with Scottish Government resilience planning, and as part of NHS Fife’s contingency arrangements, we will be scaling back some routine procedures.
“Those affected will be contacted directly and we apologise for any inconvenience.
“We would reassure patients that these procedures will be rescheduled as soon as possible.”
Unlike Tayside, NHS Fife has not introduced restrictions on visiting hours but said it would release an update if the situation changed.
Meanwhile, a number of doctors’ surgeries across Fife have switched to telephone consultations rather than dealing with patients face-to-face.
Fife’s health and social care spokesman David Graham said decisions were being taken by individual practices, rather than on a Fife-wide basis, and thanked the public for their patience.
The Labour councillor said: “As with us all, GPs are not immune to the virus and are therefore at risk of catching the virus the same as anyone else.
“In many cases due to the nature of their job they are more likely to be at risk of the virus so to ensure that the GP can continue to speak to patients and provide a service to the public a decision was taken by them to take all consultations over the phone.”
He added: “This is far from ideal and the surgeries are very aware of that but we are in unusual times which need creative ways of working to ensure we don’t end up with no service being provided at all.”
