Four executives within Argyll and Clyde NHS Board have been asked to resign ahead of a report on their performance, BBC Scotland understands.

Maternity, surgical and psychiatric services in the region have come under pressure amid claims the board offered poor standards of care.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm in October ordered a team of trouble-shooters into Argyll and Clyde to investigate reports of managerial infighting and budget problems.

That report is due to be published at a board meeting on Monday, but its contents are so damning that BBC Scotland understands the executives were told to resign or be sacked.

Malcolm Chisholm ordered a review

They are understood to be considering severance packages.

Services at one Argyll and Clyde hospital were suspended following the resignation of a doctor two months ago.

The Vale of Leven hospital, in Alexandria, closed its maternity unit until next year after failing to find a replacement for a doctor who resigned.

That decision was based, a board spokesman said, "on clinical safety".

Antenatal and postnatal care is still available at Vale of Leven, where about 900 children are born every year.

Emergency surgery was then closed because of the resignations of two surgeons.

Psychiatric services are under strain following the resignation of three out of four psychiatrists in the Lomond area.

One councillor said the public had lost faith in the board to deliver adequate services.