New staff will be recruited by NHS Highland after securing an extra £2million funding to cut waiting times.
It includes £1.2m to install a new mobile operating theatre and £800,000 towards the treatment of specialities where treatment is higher than the 12-week Scottish Government targets, including eye cataract surgery.
New chief executive Iain Stewart, in a report to his first board meeting next week, has outlined the extra investment.
He said: “NHS Highland has been successful in securing funding (from Scottish Government) to help us to improve our performance in terms of meeting Treatment Time Guarantees.
“NHS Highland has received funding – of £843,000 – to reduce our longest waiting times in specialities including ophthalmology, general surgery, and endoscopy.
“Extra work has been taking place in ophthalmology (cataracts) and general surgery which is expected to continue throughout March with some additional ophthalmology work planned for April and May.”
He added that, in endoscopy, they plan to recruit additional staff to increase capacity, although exact figures are not yet known.
Mr Stewart added: “Further funding [of £1.2m] has been allocated allowing us to install an additional Vanguard [theatre] Unit at Raigmore Hospital.
“This will provide increased capacity for the hospital and help to reduce waiting times. It is important that we work to improve TTG and Outpatient performance.”
Also in his first report to NHS Highland board, the new chief executive says that any recommendations from the QC-led review into allegations of a bullying and harassment culture at within the authority should be “embraced”.
He said: “We need to ensure that all of our people feel valued and supported and so, as we work through whatever emerges from the forthcoming Sturrock Review, we need to embrace any recommendations which will strengthen our team still further.
“Our first priority is to ensure that our patients benefit from the highest performance standards and I am encouraged at this early stage by the commitment I have witnessed from colleagues across the organisation.
“Lastly, we need to urgently address the need to restore financial balance and, to that end, we have now established a Project Management Office specifically to coordinate this effort.”
