More than 1,200 Scots patients a year receive transplants of blood and organs from donors in England and Wales, former prime minister Gordon Brown has claimed.

The former Labour leader said the willingness of people across the UK to help others in this way "should leave all of us bursting with pride" and must not be put at risk.

He said 45,500 Scots a year received treatment from hospitals and health authorities in other parts of the UK.

In more than half the cases where Scots received an organ transplant, the donor came from elsewhere in the UK, according to Mr Brown.

He added that over the period 2010-11 to 2013-14, Scotland imported around three times as much blood for transfusions as it exported to the rest of the UK.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman insisted that as health was already devolved to Scotland independence would not change these arrangements.

She said: "The NHS in Scotland is already fully devolved and independence will not change the arrangements that exist between Scotland and the other parts of the UK in relation to organ donation.

"NHS Blood and Transplant, which co-ordinates organ donation across the UK, has already confirmed in writing that independence would not lead to any change in these arrangements."

The spokeswoman added: "It is in the best interests of all patients across the UK to continue to share organs, to ensure the best match to recipient.

"This reflects international experience in other parts of Europe, and is also reflected in the fact that arrangements exist between NHS Blood and Transplant and the Health Service of the Republic of Ireland."

But Mr Brown, the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath claimed the Scottish Government's plan to "break all constitutional links with the rest of the UK" was "a step backwards".

He highlighted the connections between Scotland and the other nations in the UK, adding: "Nowhere are these connections more deep-seated than in our willingness to support each other's health and give to each other, when in need, blood and even organs such as hearts, lungs and livers and not primarily as a commercial transaction but as a gift, and often creating a lifelong bond.

"Simply to chart those links and see the willingness to help each other in times of trouble should leave all of us bursting with pride at what we have achieved by co-operation and working together. None of this must be put at risk."

A spokesman for the pro-independence group NHS for Yes said: "Reciprocal healthcare arrangements already exist between Scotland and England, because we already have different NHS systems north and south of the border - and these will continue regardless of the referendum outcome.

Exactly the same applies with other European countries and internationally.

"This is an issue area where the No campaign's scaremongering is not only silly but deeply offensive.

"The idea that doctors in the rest of the UK would refuse to treat people from Scotland simply because we had exercised our right to self-determination will horrify people who work in healthcare."