Opposition parties have criticised the SNP for its use of an NHS logo as part of its General Election campaign.

The Scottish Conservatives said the party had "wrongly appropriated the NHS for its own political ends", while Scottish Labour said the material was part of a "scare campaign".

The SNP dismissed the criticism as "utterly pathetic", while the Scottish Government confirmed the official NHS logo had not been used, so the material had not breached health service guidelines.

The graphic posted on social media shows an NHS logo adapted to read NHSNP.

It asks "who cares most about the NHS?", with an accompanying tweet saying a vote for the party on June 8 can send a message to the Conservatives of "hands off Scotland's NHS".

The health service became a key battleground during the independence referendum and was also drawn into the EU referendum debate.

The SNP said privatisation within the NHS in England threatened Scottish funding while its unionist rivals said the Scottish Government was wholly responsible for healthcare north of the border.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said the SNP had "wrongly appropriated the NHS for its own political ends".

Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said the SNP "is trying a scare campaign again".

"The NHS is already independent in Scotland - the SNP Government sets the budget, decides its priorities and oversees its delivery.

"The SNP should stop misusing the NHS logo, given how much damage the nationalists have done to our health service over the last decade."

A spokesman for the SNP said: "This is completely and utterly pathetic from the Tories and Labour.

"They can't find anything to say on the substance of today's SNP manifesto so they're after us on style.

"The fact is that the Tories are trashing the health service in England - presiding over a humanitarian crisis - while Labour can't match our ambition on funding for our NHS.

"We're investing record levels in healthcare and standing up for our hardworking nurses, doctors and other NHS staff.

"People will take this nonsense for what it is - a mere distraction from the serious issues in this election on which the Tories and Labour have no ideas and no clue."

A suggestion by the Tories that the graphic could be a breach of branding guidelines were dismissed.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Whilst the NHS Scotland logo and its use are subject to branding guidelines, this image does not include the NHS Scotland logo or its variants so is not subject to the guidelines."