Scotland’s largest hospital was today forced to turn away pregnant women poised to give birth because its maternity unit was full as Nicola Sturgeon claimed the Scottish NHS was performing better than England’s.

Expectant mothers were forced to wait for hours at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow because there was no space for them in maternity wards.

In some cases patients were having contractions minutes apart on a packed maternity ward while still waiting to be moved to a labour bed.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde apologised and insisted patients safety was “maintained at all times”. However, the problems emerged only hours after it was reported that patients arriving with urgent conditions at the hospital’s Immediate Assessment Unit were waiting up to 24 hours.

It was also revealed that patients on drips were being treated in corridors and Red Cross crews were taking the elderly and immobile home.

The disclosure also came shortly after Ms Sturgeon was accused of “celebrating” the Red Cross’s condemnation of the NHS in England to deflect public attention away from major problems in the Scottish health service.

Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said it was “quite incredible” that the First Minister had raised the situation south of the Border when challenged about a catalogue of failings at the QUEH and a three-year delay to new trauma centres promised by the SNP.