A WARD at the Victoria Hospital has been closed after an unannounced inspection.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) carried out the visit to the Ear, Nose and Throat ward where "a number of issues" relating to general maintenance were identified.

As a result, planned refurbishments at the ward have now been brought forward with the department being temporarily relocated to another area of the hospital.

The visit, which took place between July 31 and August 2, was part of the Safe Delivery of Care Inspections programme. The full report of the inspection will subsequently be published on the HIS website.

Director of Nursing, Janette Keenan, said: “We want to ensure the care we provide for patients is carried out in the best possible healthcare environments.

"The recent inspection from HIS visited a wide variety of areas within the Victoria Hospital, including those wards within the older part of the site, and identified areas where general maintenance was required.

“The health and wellbeing of our patients and staff are our single biggest priority and the improvement works already planned have now been brought forward to ensure we can address these areas as quickly as possible.”

A spokesperson for Healthcare Improvement Scotland added: “We can confirm that we visited Victoria Hospital, NHS Fife, between Monday 31 July and Wednesday 2 August, and carried out an unannounced Safe Delivery of Care inspection.

"During all our hospital inspections we provide immediate feedback on the day in relation to any key issues we identify. This allows the NHS board to take action well in advance of the final report being published.

"We will publish our findings within the full inspection report at the earliest opportunity.”