A CINEMA and online referendum advert claiming cross border health care would not be available if Scotland left the UK has been withdrawn following a complaint by London's Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Vote No Borders, the pro-UK campaign group which produced the ad, pulled it after the world famous children's hospital said it "in no way" endorsed its message.

The short clip, shown in cinemas, on Youtube and on the No Borders website, features two men discussing independence.

One asks whether Scots would still receive treatment at Great Ormond Street and is told they would have to "join a long line of foreigners waiting to be seen". 

A spokewoman for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust said:

"Great Ormond Street Hospital was not consulted about this advertising, and we in no way endorse its messages, or that of any other political campaign group.

"We have contacted the Vote No Borders group to request that the advert is removed from cinemas as soon as possible.

"We would like to reassure Scottish families that we already have reciprocal healthcare agreements with numerous countries, and we regularly treat patients from across Europe because of our very specialist expertise."

A spokeswoman for Vote No Borders said the ad had been withdrawn following discussions with the hospital.

She said: "We understand, as we used their name, that they did not wish to be seen as endorsing our campaign so we withdrew the ad.

"But what we have to say about people's concerns about health remain valid."

Vote No Borders, which is not part of the main pro-UK Better Together campaign, was created by Scots financier Malcolm Offord, a former Tory party donor.

Dr Willie Wilson, a co-founder of the pro-independence NHS for Yes group, said: "This is a new low for the No campaign who are now reduced to using sick children to scare people into voting No."

The Scottish Government says existing cross border health arrangements would continue if Scotland became independent.