Children and teenagers being rushed to hospital in medical emergencies are no longer being taken to Paisley's RAH.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has instructed paramedics to take youngsters from Helensburgh and Lomond to a hospital in Glasgow, meaning a longer transfer time.

The change follows SNP Health Secretary Shona Robinson's recent decision to close the children's ward at the Paisley hospital.

But the move has led to concerns from Jackie Baillie MSP who says the extra 10 minutes on the motorway might not sound much, “but every second counts in an emergency”.

The MSP was commenting after a staff member of the Scottish Ambulance Service, who asked to remain anonymous, sent her a copy of the memo circulated among paramedics.

The document titled ‘RAH Ward 15 – Children’s Ward Permanent Closure’ states that any patient under the age of 16 who would normally have been taken to the RAH should now be taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow’s south side.

The Paisley children’s ward, which served families in Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Helensburgh, had been closed at weekends since July 2017 and the SNP Government approved plans last month to make it a permanent closure despite opposition from parents.

Ms Baillie said: “The ambulance service has wasted no time in implementing the SNP Health Secretary’s decision to close the children’s ward at the RAH.

“An extra 10 minutes on the motorway might not sound like much but every second counts in an emergency.

“The closure of the children’s ward in Paisley will also add to transport difficulties for local people who are visiting family members in hospital."

Controversy surrounding the need for A&E patients to go to RAH from Helensburgh and Lomond blew up in January at the height of the flu epidemic.

Patients being taken to the hospital reported seeing queues of ambulances, and patients spending hours on trolleys before being admitted to wards for treatment.

This led to an apology from Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board who said their services were under unprecedented demand.

However, this did not stop an outcry from people on social media calling for an A&E department to be reinstated at Vale of Leven Hospital.

Ms Baillie said this week: “Patients in West Dunbartonshire, Helensburgh and Lomond are already sick of travelling across the Erskine Bridge to Paisley but under the SNP we are seeing more and more centralisation in Glasgow’s south side.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "Our priority is providing safe care for patients and transferring those that need urgent, life-saving care to the nearest definitive care where the whole range of paediatric services are available and patients can receive the specialist care they require.

"We train our staff in the initial stabilisation and management of paediatric emergencies and are committed to work with Health Board partners to develop the best and most sustainable patient pathways for all emergency conditions."