Fife has joined Tayside in postponing non-emergency operations as the First Minister warned the NHS is under pressure like never before.
Health chiefs in the kingdom said routine elective surgeries are being put on hold amid record levels of stress on the service.
Nicola Sturgeon said the NHS is facing “unprecedented demands” this winter, but faced accusations her government has failed to give the service the resources it needs.
An average of 328 patients a day were seeking A&E treatment in Tayside and Fife in the week before Christmas, which is 17% up on the same period in 2016.
Health officials warned an increase in slips and falls due to the freezing weather was ramping up pressure on the service, while there had been large rises in cases of respiratory illnesses, such as the flu.
New figures from Health Protection Scotland showed the number of the people suffering from flu in the country had more than doubled in the last week of December, compared with the same week in 2016.
It emerged this week that NHS Lanarkshire asked office workers to perform frontline duties such as cleaning and make beds and is one of several health boards that are cancelling scheduled operations.
Tayside chiefs announced back in October that non-urgent elective operations will not take place in three of its hospitals between December 18 to January 8.
Paul Hawkins, the chief executive of NHS Fife, said in the last few weeks they have “experienced a higher demand for our services than we have seen in previous years” and are postponing some procedures.
“Our winter plan was enacted some months ago and additional capacity was made available ahead of any period of peaked demand,” he added.
“Despite this, it has been necessary to postpone a number of non-urgent planned operations in order that we maintain the standard of care for those who are most acutely unwell.
“Every effort is being made to accommodate as much of the elective programme as possible and we are working to reschedule all procedures as soon as is practical.”
Lesley McLay, chief executive of NHS Tayside, said despite “exceptional” levels of illness their teams “have pulled together to deliver the highest standard of care for patients and their families”.
“We are using all our available capacity, working closely with our partner agencies and our doctors, nurses and managers are meeting several times a day to closely monitor the number of admissions and the beds we have available,” she said.
Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s health spokesman, said NHS staff are not being given the resources “they need and deserve to do their jobs”.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “We’re working with boards to help them cope with pressures, and this year alone we have invested £22.4m to create extra resilience across the system.”
