For the last 20 years, the NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank has carried out pioneering treatments for Scots across the country.
Two decades ago, the former private hospital was purchased by NHS Scotland and has since carried out almost one million procedures, treating patients from every health board across the country.
Since the site was taken over in 2002, it has gained university status and the site includes a research institute, conference and training venue, the NHS Scotland Academy and the national centre for sustainable delivery.
One of the UK’s largest and most successful heart and lung services, it has carried out more than 150,000 cardiology, heart and lung surgeries.
NHS Golden Jubilee specialists have also undertaken 175 heart transplants since services transferred to the Clydebank site in 2008.
The site also houses one of Europe’s largest elective orthopaedic and cataract centres, with the dedicated treatment centre carrying out around 25% of Scotland’s procedures in these specialties.
However the hospital was also impacted during the coronavirus pandemic, and took on cancer patients to help ease the load on other health boards in Scotland.
Orthopaedic surgeon Christopher Gee, joined the hospital at the start of the pandemic and was instrumental in redesigning how the service would work in the challenging months and years ahead.
STV NewsHe told STV News: “I think the consequences or ramifications of the pandemic will be very, very much long lasting and probably will change a lot of how health care functions and the NHS for the foreseeable future really. It’s been hard.
“There’s no doubt about it. But you feel very privileged to work in an organisation where we’re able to problem solve and be able to advocate for our patients and provide high quality care, which is what we aspire for.
“[We were] doing scheduled surgery from July 1, 2020 and then not having paused since has meant that we’ve been able to provide a large amount of scheduled elective orthopaedic surgery for patients.”
Health secretary Humza Yousaf MSP said: “Congratulations to all NHS Golden Jubilee staff on the board’s 20th anniversary. I would like to thank everyone for what you have done and continue to do as we emerge and recover from this difficult time.
“During the pandemic NHS Golden Jubilee played a crucial role in supporting Scotland by providing ‘critical to life’ heart, lung and cancer services as well as opening a fifth cardiac lab, providing an additional 1,000 procedures a year.
“NHS Golden Jubilee continues to go from strength to strength and I look forward to seeing what the next 20 years – and beyond – will bring.”
STV NewsProfessor Jann Gardner, chief executive of NHS Golden Jubilee, added: “As a national asset for NHS Scotland, we are extremely proud of how far this organisation has come in 20 years.
“Our highly-skilled specialists and dedicated staff have led the way in new and innovative techniques, which has helped thousands of patients and families across Scotland, providing them with a better quality of life after treatment.
“Although it is good to celebrate the successes of the last 20 years, NHS Golden Jubilee has always been adaptable and focused on patient demands so we need to look forward and support the current challenges within our health service.
“During the pandemic we opened a new cardiac catheterisation lab and dedicated eye centre to treat more patients than ever before. Next year we will be opening our new surgical centre that will allow us to carry out more orthopaedic surgeries and scope procedures.
“We will also continue to collaborate with colleagues across health, social care, academia, and industry to increase access to care, reduce health inequalities, widen employment routes, redesign workforce roles, deploy health innovations and better ways of working faster.
“Through all aspects of the NHS Golden Jubilee family, we look forward to providing world class healthcare to the people of Scotland in the years ahead.”
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