MURRAY Jummun keeps popping up when you least expect him, such as announcing Team Scotland into the stadium during the opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games three years ago.

But his day job has a very different audience as the deputy cardiac physiology manager at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

He is one of a number of staff who has been at the Clydebank centre since its launch in 2002 and helped turn it into a world leader for care.

Time is precious at the cardiac unit and it has expanded to be a 24/7 centre saving lives across the west of Scotland.

“We react to things a lot quicker possibly than other places do, particularly on new technology” said Murray. “We’re forward thinking on that.

“It’s a great motivator if people are brining in new technology and new techniques. We do a lot of research here so we tend to get our hands on things a lot quicker.

“When I first started in cardiology, a patient had to lie in bed for a week after surgery.

“Now they’re up within two days. Getting them active is more important.

“People are in and out of the hospital within a week or even within a day.”

Although there are always patients who sadly don’t leave hospital after suffering heart failure, the majority do and seeing them walk out and returning for checks years later is a great boost to staff there.

Murray said: “Sometimes we don’t have time to reflect. We do everything we can, but can’t save everyone.

“For every patient that doesn’t make it, there are 10 more that do. And there are always more people we need to help. That’s the drive to keep going.”

The Golden Jubilee was originally build in 1994 as a private hospital but 15 years ago was taken over by the Scottish Executive and has continued to evolve from the National Waiting Times Centre.

Now the 163-bed hospital is home to the West of Scotland Heart and Lung Centre, the only centre in Scotland carrying out heart transplants, one of the largest elective orthopaedic centres in Europe, the biggest provider of cataract procedures, and many more services.

And the centre is getting massive £5 million upgrade for ophthalmology, two state-of-the-art MRI machines and a dedicated general surgery service.

Gordon Rankin is the senior biometical scientist in haematology at the hospital, having originally trained at the old Southern General.

The 58-year-old Old Kilpatrick resident said lab work is now centralised where it went through a phase of being divided into different specialist centres.

Now they can do about 90 per cent of the necessary test for the hospital in house to make sure doctors have all the information they need.

“It can be challenging,” he told the Post. “A lot of patients who come here have had something done somewhere else, so there shouldn’t be surprises.

“Patients going through the ICU can be more complex. Transplant tests get sent to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

“You have to keep up to date with the latest technology. There were no computers when I started – I’ve been working 38 years in this sector.”

As well as being home to NHS24, there is also the 168-room Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel, allowing a patient’s family to know they have a place to stay when travelling from across Scotland to be with a loved one.

With three outreach visits a year to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness seeing 100 patients in a single day, that can mean dozens of operations and trips south to organise.

Where once there were just four staff in the booking office, there are now more than 20.

Manager Margaret McKenna, from Old Kilpatrick, said the biggest worry for patients isn’t the health care, it’s the travel.

Sometimes that can involve bringing down a family member as well as transport for the patient. Other times it can be just a simple pick-up from Dalmuir rail station to the hospital.

The 48-year-old said: “We tend to get more difficult cases now because we have the expertise. We coordinate transport and allow family to stay in the hotel – it makes it easier for the family when they’re away from home.

“And it cuts down on our transport costs – with free parking it, it allows family to drive home together when ready.

“Every time we have to think about the best way to get a patient here or how to encourage them to come here. We have to do everything to make it easier for them.”

More and more NHS boards are turning to the services offered by the Golden Jubilee for taking patients if they choose.

That puts greater demands on the hotel and on Margaret and her team.

“More and more patients are asking for help,” explained Margaret. “The wee things make all the difference. Sometimes when I go home, that’s what I think about.”

It may only be 15 years old, but it continues to expand and go from strength to strength.

Margaret added: “The Golden Jubilee is a great thing for Clydebank but especially the workforce. It’s put Clydebank on the map.”