Over 50 surgeries in Fife and Tayside have been delayed following damage to a sterilising hub.
NHS Tayside confirmed damage to the ceiling of the central decontamination unit at Ninewells Hospital has led to the delays.
NHS Fife confirmed 13 elective procedures have been cancelled with the BBC reporting a further 43 NHS Tayside surgeries have also been delayed.
The sterilisation hub provides theatre trays to hospitals across the two health boards.
Surgical trays have been sent to other health boards to be sterilised after the hub was damaged at the weekend.
NHS Fife confirmed contingency plans are in place for Wednesday – claiming disruption will be minimised.
A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “A ceiling in the clean room of the central decontamination unit was accidentally damaged during a repair resulting in a step-down in production at the specialist facility since the weekend.
“All emergency surgery has been maintained to date however some elective surgical procedures have had to be postponed on Monday and Tuesday and we expect a small number of procedures to be postponed on Wednesday.”
NHS Fife chief apologises for delays
Claire Dobson, NHS Fife’s director of acute services said: “We apologise to the small number of patients currently affected, the decision to postpone any operation is never an easy one and we will work to ensure that these appointments are rescheduled as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately, today’s decision was essential, in order to ensure sufficient clean surgical supplies were available for those with the most urgent clinical need, including medical emergencies and cancer treatments.
“We continue to work with colleagues at NHS Tayside to minimise the impact on our elective procedure programme and ask patients to continue to attend for their scheduled appointment unless they have been contacted by their clinical team.”
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