It was recently announced that two beds were to be transferred from the unit at Stobhill to the Golden Jubilee Hospital, in Clydebank.

The hospital's 'West of Scotland Regional Heart and Lung Centre' was opened last week and will treat all serious heart attacks in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

There have been concerns that the centre could spell the beginning of the end for the Stobhill unit, which was the first in Scotland to deliver patients directly by ambulance to the back door.

Dr Robert Cumming, who sits on the North Glasgow NHS Monitoring Group, told the Herald it would be a mistake to lose the unit at Stobhill.

He said: "The back door unit at Stobhill has the best one-month survival rate in Scotland for heart attack patients – around 93 per cent.

"The more rapidly you can get patients to hospital the better the chances of survival and the unit at Stobhill has proven that.

"Such a move could potentially lead to a loss of life."

Save Stobhill chairman Councillor Charles Kennedy said: "I think this is something we need to keep an eye on because, by common consensus, the unit is second to none and patients have complete confidence in it."

NHS bosses insisted that local coronary care units would continue to be used when beneficial to patients.

A spokesperson said: "Heart attack patients will go to their local hospital unless identified as having a specific type of heart attack which is suitable for treatment by the coronary care enhancement service."