NHS bosses have said they will not sacrifice standards to fill crucial vacancies in accident and emergency in Aberdeen.
The health board has recruited two of the three vacant posts it aimed to fill at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary by August 1.
Senior staff have previously claimed lives could be put at risks by staff shortages.
But Dr Annie Ingram, director of workforce, said that the board would wait to hire the right people for the jobs.
Dr Ingram told a meeting of the NHS Grampian board yesterday: “The worst thing to do would be just to appoint somebody that doesn’t have the values and the approach that we would want.
“Having had a long discussion with the consultants, that’s why we been a bit thoughtful about not going straight out to re-advert, and we’ve had a think about what the job will look like.
“My own view, in any post, is it’s the wrong thing to do to appoint just to get a pair of hands, rather than appointing the right person.”
The health board was warned by staff at the Emergency Care Centre in Aberdeen that they would struggle to provide “safe care 24 hours a day, seven days a week” if vacant posts were not filled by the beginning of August.
They went so far as to say they might not be able to carry out resuscitation in life threatening cases due to a chronic shortage of staff.
Dr Ingram said: “We have made two substantive consultant appointments for the two posts that were advertised earlier in the year.
“We’ve also appointed two consultants on a locum basis, and we’re looking at one additional consultant for partial cover, particularly at weekends.”
A total of 13 new doctors have also been recruited for various roles.
As well as finding new staff, the health board has looked at other methods of improving cover, with assistance from the national lead for emergency medicine Dr Bill Morrison.
Dr Ingram said: “In particular we looked at the rota that the consultant staff work and we’ve been able, with the staff that we have, to develop a different rota which will provide a longer period of cover, although obviously with fewer people on the floor, but actually covering the department in a sustainable way.”