THE First Minister has been challenged over the closure of a children’s ward she said months ago was not under threat.

Nicola Sturgeon was asked in March last year during a live TV debate if there were plans to shut ward 15 of the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley.

The First Minister pledged that health services would be kept, “as local as they need to be” and added: “There’s no proposals to close that particular ward.”

However months earlier, official papers revealed plans by the board to close the ward as part of a plan to save £69million. The proposals were formally approved by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde earlier this week..

The final decision will rest with the Health Secretary, Shona Robison.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale quizzed the First Minister about the ward during today's First Minister’s Questions accusing Ms Sturgeon of “giving false hope to thousands of families.”

The First Minister said: “The proposal was voted on by Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board this week.

“By definition, therefore, the proposal did not exist in a form that the Scottish Government could consider last year before the Scottish election.

“I am not prejudging the Scottish Government’s view on the matter, because we now have to go through a formal process of our own, but let us remember that the proposal comes in the context of there being a new children’s hospital in the south of Glasgow, just a few miles away from the Royal Alexandra hospital.

“The proposal will be given full and proper consideration.”

Meanwhile, Renfrewshire Council today raised an emergency motion calling on the Scottish Government to save the ward.

Councillor Iain McMillan, chairman of the Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: "The council has called on both the Health Secretary and the First Minister to honour their pledges to the people of Renfrewshire to protect Ward 15 and keep health services local.

"If they approve the Health Board's decision it will have a significant impact on many families throughout our area."