HEALTH Secretary Shona Robison has rejected calls to quit following revelations charity cash was used to pay for new IT systems at NHS Tayside under her watch.

Bosses were forced to step down earlier this month after The Herald revealed £2.7 million had been raided from the board’s endowment fund in 2014 and spent retrospectively on general running costs.

Ms Robison insisted a “robust process” was now in place to fully investigate the issue and ensure the practice was not replicated at other health boards across Scotland.

READ MORE: NHS Tayside axed own rules to use charity cash to pay for new IT system after running out of money

But Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said she had “failed too many patients” and “breached the trust of the public” – and should consider her position.

He said: “This scandal has happened on her watch, in her local health board. It is her mismanagement and her failure.

“The sad reality is that the public have lost confidence in SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison and she has lost control of her brief.

“Shona Robison must now do the decent thing and withdraw herself from this investigation, if not from her portfolio all together.”

Ms Robison said the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) was leading the probe into NHS Tayside.

She insisted all investigations – including those by external auditors – would be completed by the end of June, adding: “I would have thought in anybody’s eyes, that is a robust process – with the independence of OSCR at its heart.”

Ms Robison said there was nothing to suggest health boards other than NHS Tayside had misused endowment funding.

But in the event that any money has been spent inappropriately, she said she would expect it to be repaid "swiftly and in full".

READ MORE: NHS Tayside 'only health board' to have used charity funds for general spending

The £2.7 million raided from NHS Tayside’s endowment fund was made up of donations from the public or bequests in wills. It was intended to be spent on items or initiatives that benefit staff and patients, but would not be covered by the NHS.

A new leadership team has now been put in place at the health board, which has been beset with financial problems and has been bailed out with £45.3 million in Scottish Government loans so far.

Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said there had been "repeated failures of oversight" on the part of Ms Robison's department and a lack of scrutiny and supervision.

All NHS boards have been asked to give an assurance that their charitable funds have been used appropriately by the end of the month.