Mr Chisholm said he will not revisit past decisions

The minister said he does not intend to approve any new proposals until a national framework has been agreed.

However, he told Holyrood's health committee that he has no plans to revisit past decisions.

He was being quizzed amid concern about campaigns against hospital closures in a number of places in Scotland.

Mr Chisholm told the committee: "I don't think it would make sense for things that I have approved - and in that sense parliament has approved too, and very explicitly in the case of Glasgow - that they should be revisited.

"How far back do people want to go? If decisions have been made we can't have everything slowing down."

Little comfort

There was little comfort in the minister's words for people who have sustained a high profile campaign seeking the retention of the accident and emergency unit at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow.

The acute services review in the city was signed off two years ago and the minister made clear he has no plans for a rethink.

However, Mr Chisholm said he does not intend to respond to any new proposals for hospital reform until a national review group reports in March.

The one exception is where clinical safety is deemed to be at risk.

The minister said: "Boards would have to make a strong case and obviously clinicians would have to make a strong case and then a judgment would have to be made at the end of the day."

But he added that there will be a rigorous test of advice from health boards, meaning clinical safety warnings will not be accepted automatically.

Lib Dem backbencher Jamie Stone warned Mr Chisholm his planned NHS cutbacks could end in "tragedy".

The MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, said distance was also a major safety consideration for patients in remoter parts of Scotland, particularly in the winter.

Potential tragedy

He said: "We know that the helicopters don't fly, we know that the trains don't run, we know that the road blocks.

"If you say to a pregnant mum in Bettyhill, Canisbay, Reay, somewhere like that: `You've got an over 200-mile return trip to Inverness,' that's real safety, that's people potentially dying in an ambulance or in surgery.

"We have to stop talking about this rather medic-centred look at safety and take it in the wider context because otherwise we are going to have a tragedy on our hands."

After the last committee meeting, many members urged the minister to ban any future changes until the publication of a new national framework.

Last week, Westminster MPs told Mr Chisholm to "get a grip" on the health service in Scotland.

While health is a devolved matter there are concerns in the Labour Party about public hostility to NHS reforms in the lead-up to a possible general election next year.

HOSPITALS FACING REORGANISATION 1. Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall 2. W' Isles Hospital, Stornoway 3. Caithness Gen. Hospital, Wick 4. Belford Hospital, Fort William 5. Lorne and Isles Hospital, Oban 6. Perth Royal Infirmary 7. Forth Park Hospital, Kirkcaldy 8. Queen Marg't Hospital, Dunfermline 9. Stirling Royal Infirmary 10. Vale of Leven Hospital, Alexandria 11. Inverclyde Royal, Greenock 12. Falkirk Royal 13. St John's Hospital, Livingston 14. Monklands Hospital, Airdrie 15. Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow 16. Western Infirmary, Glasgow 17. Queen Mother's Hospital, Glasgow 18. Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow 19. Wishaw General 20. Hairmyres Hospital, E' Kilbride 21. Ayr Hospital