HUNDREDS of patients in the Highlands are a facing a seven-month wait for routine procedures such as hip replacements - in breach of a 12-week target.

The number of patients waiting more than three months for routine orthopaedic surgery has risen to 332 from 249 over the past 15 months.

The average wait is seven months, although some patients could find themselves waiting even longer depending on circumstances such as the type of surgery required or the availability of a specific consultant, or the patient themselves.

The figures come after NHS Highland board members said there is a compelling need for a world-class £27 million treatment centre to be based at the new Inverness Campus specialising in orthopaedics and ophthalmology.

Their views are supported by a senior hospital manager who said the proposed north of Scotland elective care centre currently being considered by the Scottish Government would help to free up theatre capacity at Raigmore Hospital, where a lack of theatre space is being blamed for the figures, and improve the service for patients.

Andrew Ward, NHS Highland's directorate general manager for surgical, acknowledged that the 12-week waiting time for routine orthopaedic surgery was not being met and there were also more than 1500 people waiting more than 12 weeks for their first outpatient orthopaedic appointment - although this figure was improving.

He said: "NHS Highland recognises that patients waiting for orthopaedic appointments and surgery are currently waiting longer than we all would wish.

"However, we have made a significant improvement in the waiting time for outpatient appointments due to increased capacity and are modernising the way in which care is provided."

He said the number of patients waiting for a first appointment had significantly reduced from 2,929 at the end of February 2016 to 1,555 at end of May.

Mr Ward added that as more outpatients were being seen, the waiting times for surgery were increasing.

He said: "The elective care centre will provide additional capacity for orthopaedic operating on a regional basis which will improve services to our patients in a sustainable way."

The planned facility, set to open in 2021, will have 30 beds, three theatres and day case and outpatient facilities. It will be one of six new elective treatment centres in Scotland and would serve the Highlands, Western Isles and west Grampian with a capacity to carry out 1,800 hip and knee procedures, 4,200 cataract removals and 45,000 outpatient attendances each year.

Deborah Jones, NHS Highland's director of strategic commissioning, planning and performance, told this week's board meeting that the case for the centre, which is being funded by the Scottish Government, was being assessed by the government's capital investment group.

She said: "My gut says we have a very strong case from NHS Highland. I think we have a very strong case for the region."

In May, figures revealed that some patients in Scotland had waited nearly two years for a joint surgery. In the worst cases one patient requiring a primary hip replacement had to wait 582 days while a primary knee replacement took 520 days.

The number of patients waiting more than sixteen weeks also increased over the past year from six percent to 20 per cent.

At the time, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), which compiled the figures, called for action to cut the surgery waiting anomalies and in delays in after-care.

Spokesman Kenryck Lloyd-Jones said: "Ultimately long waiting times are a false economy, keeping people off work and running the risk of conditions becoming chronic and more costly to treat."