NHS chiefs have been drafted in to cover the shifts of striking porters at Ninewells Hospital.
Around 120 porters are downing tools every Monday and Friday for two separate four-hour spells due to a dispute over pay.
They claim NHS Tayside owe £6 million in pay that goes back a decade, because of an administrative issue that is said to have put them in the wrong pay bracket.
George Doherty, NHS Tayside’s director of human resources, revealed that high-ranking members of staff are now having to cover the porters’ roles.
He said: “Around 200 members of staff have already come forward to help to cover the duties left without cover by Unite in this dispute and we are very grateful to them.
“These staff helpers come from all over the organisation, mainly working in non-patient facing areas and include senior managers.”
According to one member of staff at Ninewells, the hospital is a scene of “chaos” when porters go on strike, but Mr Doherty insisted procedures had not been affected.
He said: “I would like to reassure the public that no X-ray, MRI or CT scans have been cancelled as a result of the industrial action by the porters at Ninewells Hospital.”
One porter said: “We’re all at work just now, but it’s just chaos when we’re not here. It’s not right for the NHS to say services aren’t affected and they are coping.”
He added that those covering the shifts of porters had not gone through suitable training programmes, but Mr Doherty said he had no concerns.
He added: “All staff helpers involved with the transfer of patients complete mandatory manual handling training.
“This means that they have completed the appropriate training to allow them to transfer patients safely using wheelchairs, beds and trolleys.”