A HOSPITAL which was opened to drive down waiting times has launched its 10th anniversary celebrations.
Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health, visited the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank to mark the occasion.
The hospital was unveiled on June 27, 2002 to cut waiting times for patients undergoing a variety of surgical procedures.
Since then it has become a major centre for regional and national heart and lung services, orthopaedics and other specialities.
It performs a fifth of Scottish hip and knee replacements and 45% of those carried out in the West of Scotland.
The hospital has also claimed several Scottish "firsts", such as replacing a patient's heart valve through a vein in his leg without the need for open heart surgery. It also pioneered the enhanced recovery technique for patients undergoing hip or knee replacements, allowing them to be mobile on the same day as their surgery.
The Golden Jubilee also has the fastest "door to balloon" time – from diagnosis to treatment – for heart attack patients with blocked arteries and is the busiest lung centre in the UK.
A survey found 99% of patients trusted staff with their care and the hospital has also been praised for dementia practices.
Over the past decade, the hospital has grown from performing 3000 procedures each year to more than 30,000.
Ms Sturgeon said: "The Golden Jubilee National Hospital is a unique facility that has gone from strength to strength. The clinicians and staff at the hospital are pioneers who, through their research collaborations, continue to develop innovative treatments and solutions that enhance the hospital experience for Scottish patients."
Chief executive of the Golden Jubilee National Hospital Jill Young said: "We are extremely proud of how far we have come.
"This year we are celebrating all of our achievements over the past 10 years, but more importantly, we are looking to the future and what we may achieve for patients in the next 10 years."
The Golden Jubilee Hospital was built as a private hospital in 1994 by Health Care International and bought by the NHS in 2002 for £37.5million.
caroline.wilson@ eveningtimes.co.uk