THE SNP urged Scottish Health Minister Sam Galbraith to resign yesterday after one of the country's top consultants quit in disgust over bed shortages.

However, Mr Galbraith said he was staying put, despite the departure of Dr Keith Little, the clinical director of the accident and emergency department at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Dr Little, who is continuing to work as a consultant, claimed he could not do his job properly because of lack of hospital beds.

It was the second embarrassment for the Government in the space of one week. The Scottish secretary of the British Medical Association, Dr Brian Potter, started the controversy when he described the same accident and emergency department as a ''war zone'' after he witnessed patients waiting in trolleys for eight hours.

At a health campaign launch in Dundee yesterday Mr Galbraith agreed that the trolley situation was unacceptable and accepted responsibility for the fiasco. He added that he learned of Dr Little's resignation only after the row involving Dr Potter emerged, and denied that NHS staff were being ''gagged''. ''We are on top of normal winter pressures,'' he said. ''We are here to finish the job. Sam Galbraith is here to finish the job.''

SNP leader Alex Salmond led the calls for the Minister's resignation, claiming he was either guilty of ''deceit or failing to oversee his department''.

As a recent hospital patient, Mr Salmond had heard ''serious concerns'' from staff over morale. ''You would have to be Lord Nelson not to believe that there is a crisis of morale in the health service and the idea that by suppressing the information you can improve the situation is totally ridiculous.''

The Scottish Liberal Democrats stopped short of backing the resignation calls, but accused Mr Galbraith of bending to ''his Westminster masters'' and failing to do his job.

Scottish Tory health spokeswoman Dr Kate Pickering said: ''Mr Galbraith needs to deal urgently with the near-terminal damage his Government has inflicted on the morale of staff at all levels and in all areas of the health service.''

Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar described calls for Mr Galbraith's resignation as absurd and irrelevant. ''Few people in Scotland can have a greater understanding of, and commitment to the NHS. I want to reassure the public that the NHS in Scotland, with the full support of this Government, is meeting patient needs,'' he said.

Mr Joe Owens, chief executive of ERI Trust, said that Dr Little, whom he described as a ''giant'' in his field, wanted to resign some weeks ago. He said: ''We regret Dr Little has resigned as clinical director as a significant number of measures have been put in place to tackle the longer term problem of acute bed availability, but these will take time to have an impact.''

Dr Little claimed yesterday that lack of resources meant the needs of patients were not being met.

''Patients wait on trolleys for many hours, waiting for an appropriate in-patient bed. And for 14 or 16 patients to be waiting in my department simultaneously for four, six or eight hours is not good for the patients, appalling for the relatives, and incredibly frustrating and distressing for the staff involved.''