Hospitals in Belfast are to postpone all non-emergency surgery in an attempt to speed up treatment for 80 patients who are in need of urgent orthopaedic surgery.
The decision comes following a crisis meeting on Wednesday night between the North's Health Minister, Mr John McFall, and representatives of the health boards.
Mr McFall said he was confident the crisis would be resolved. "I have been assured that this issue of fractures waiting for treatment could be tackled in the next 10 days or so. I am expecting to receive reports from the professionals in the field on a daily basis," he said.
The decision to postpone all non-emergency treatment means that nearly 300 patients in need of routine surgery such as hernia and gall stone operations will have to wait for an indefinite period before they can receive treatment.
A spokeswoman for the Eastern Health Council described the postponement of routine surgery as the "only way out of the crisis". But she said that it could not be regarded as a long-term solution.
For elderly patients, who should be treated within 24 hours, such waiting times were unacceptable, she added.