At the busiest departments of Raigmore Hospital, surgeons have stopped working overtime, and because of which the waiting lists are boosting up and the national targets are dropping down. The orthopedic consultants are fed up of working overtime and of taking loads of pain in the form of extra working hours to handle the augmenting workload.

But due to this, the patients’ health is on stake, as those who are waiting to get treatments for their hip and knee replacements will have to wait for much longer now. Also, the nine-week target can now not be met by the NHS Highland.

Raigmore Hospital is one of the biggest general hospitals at Highlands where nine surgeons of orthopedic department refusing to work overtime will cause a great harm. Now, the concerned Highland authorities are to look into the matter and the patients are thought to be sent to a hospital in the Central Belt for their treatment procedures.

It was in the month of May that the decision of working overtime had come into action, and with surgeons working overtime, there are almost 253 patients in the waiting list for their treatments. But if the doctors would stop working overtime, then these figures are estimated to reach 545 by September, said Chief Operating Officer of Raigmore Hospital, Elaine Mead.