Doctors across Ayrshire have tonight been asked to see only emergency patients as the crisis in the NHS deepens.
Worried health chiefs have put in place a "whole system response" to combat the "extreme pressure" building across hospitals and GP practices.
Docs are being asked to see only urgent cases in a bid to "prioritise urgent care, palliative care, screening programmes and out of hours services, as well as being able to provide care for those with more complex care needs," NHS Ayrshire & Arran said.
Families are also being asked to step into the breach and help clear blocked beds in hospital wards.
Those with a relative ready for discharge are being asked to "consider whether there is anything they could do to support them to return home more quickly and avoid them having to remain in hospital unnecessarily until a full care package can be put in place."
The crisis management comes after health bosses admitted both Ayr and Crosshouse Hospitals had run out of beds.
Routine surgery across both sites has been put on hold for the next three weeks.
And Social Care at Home services across the region are being hit by a spike in demand which, bosses say, will lead to delays and disruption.
Now hospital top brass have put in place an emergency response to try and clear the backlog and tackle the ongoing crisis.
Claire Burden, Chief Executive of NHS Ayrshire & Arran, said: “We are committed to providing safe and effective health and social care for our population in as timely a way as possible.
“However, services across the whole health and care system remain under extreme pressure.
"This is due to a combination of staff absence across the system, high bed occupancy levels in our acute and community hospitals, high levels of flu and covid in our community, some delayed transfers of care and high volumes of frail patients whose recovery includes complex care.
“To address these issues, we have implemented a whole system response, where we are working with our partners to ease some of those pressures and improve services for people living in Ayrshire and Arran.”
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
