Elective surgeries have been axed for three weeks in Ayrshire hospitals, health chiefs have confirmed.
Routine procedures that were due to go ahead from today will be rescheduled.
It means that any patients who required to stay in hospital to recover after going under the knife will face waiting till at least February to have their operation carried out.
Bosses at NHS Ayrshire & Arran say both Ayr and Crosshouse Hospitals are under "considerable pressure," with Emergency Departments and Clinical Assessment Units struggling to cope.
Officials say they have been working with surgical teams on a 'range of options,' which has led to them pausing all inpatient elective surgery.
Urgent procedures, including cancer surgeries will be unaffected.
Day surgery and paediatric surgery will also continue as normal.
Joanne Edwards, Director of Acute Services, said: "NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s acute hospital sites are under considerable pressure, leading to delays in our patients being able to access care on an emergency basis.
"We are working hard to implement a range of measures to improve this situation, including opening additional beds where possible, and seeking alternative pathways for those patients who do not require their care to be delivered in an acute hospital setting.
"However, our Emergency Departments (ED), Clinical Assessment Units (CAU) and many wards remain under pressure.
"In order to address this issue, we are working with our surgical teams on a range of options that includes a temporary pause to routine inpatient elective surgery for a period of three weeks from Monday 9 January 2023.
"This means that patients who were scheduled to undergo an operation on a routine basis, which would have required an inpatient admission to hospital during this time, will have their procedure rescheduled."
Ms Edwards says the move will only affect a "relatively small number" of patients, as she offered an apology.
Those patients affected have been promised they will "retain their position" at the top of the waiting list, with surgeries to be rescheduled as soon as possible.
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