Experts rap 'shut A&E' policy

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The reports, due to be made public, are said to deliver a devastating blow to the drive to close A&E departments in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.

According to the Herald newspaper, an expert panel set up to scrutinise the plans says the arguments for cutting services are deeply flawed and include outdated data.

Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon told the Herald that the reports "confirm the Government's view" that the decisions to close the two units were "wrong".

Plans to downgrade A&E departments in Monklands and in Ayrshire to minor injury units were approved by the last Scottish Labour administration in 2006.

But when the SNP took over last May it told health boards to draw up new proposals and created a panel to scrutinise them.

Both boards submitted proposals which were said to support schemes which still would cut emergency care.

The panel, chaired by health economist Dr Andrew Walker, is said to say that neither board makes a convincing argument for a reduction in service.