ASYLUM seekers from the Dungavel detention centre have been degraded and humiliated in a series of "horrific" incidences while receiving treatment at Scottish NHS hospitals, according to a dossier compiled by staff.

Medical workers at Wishaw General Hospital and Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride have raised concerns about a number of cases including that of a woman being shackled to her bed while awaiting surgery and a man who was escorted from a psychiatric unit by armed guards following treatment for mental health problems.

Letters written to David Piggott, chief executive of NHS Lanarkshire, which detail the incidents, have been passed to the Sunday Herald. But workers have said that bosses have done nothing to stop a recurrence and are forcing their staff to degrade asylum seekers by treating them as they would convicted criminals.

Lilian Macer, chair of the Lanarkshire health branch of the union Unison, who works at Wishaw General, said: "Most of the time they are brought in handcuffed and remain handcuffed throughout their treatment. The only way they would not be handcuffed is when they are under general anaesthetic.

"We have been campaigning since last July to get NHS Lanarkshire to recognise that we need a policy for dealing with people coming in from Dungavel. There has to be a policy in place so that Lanarkshire meets its duty of care.

Staff feel very strongly that it is not doing that."

Macer recounted an incident at Wishaw General involving a 12-year-old girl from the Lanarkshire detention centre who was about to be accompanied to the toilet with a guard until hospital staff intervened.

Macer said the child would have been "afforded no dignity" had it not been for the actions of the nursing staff.

But she also said a more recent example of a male asylum seeker, who spoke no English but who was removed from the Wishaw hospital by armed guards, had left staff "horrified".

She said: "The man was brought in wearing handcuffs and given treatment for a few days for mental illness. But the manner in which he was removed from the hospital had led staff to complain that his treatment would have been compromised.

"There were three members of detention staff on the doors and another was co-ordinating.

The staff removing him were armed and the patient was unsure what was happening. He did not speak English and there was nobody there to translate.

He was practically dragged out.

Staff on duty were horrified."

Linda Fabiani, the SNP's ldeputy shadow minister for social justice, last year called for an inquiry into the treatment of asylum seekers after revealing the case of a woman in her 20s from Cameroon who was chained to a bed in Hairmyres Hospital while she waited for an operation. Fabiani claimed the treatment was "on a par" with human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where terror suspects have been held for almost three years by the US without trial.

Last night, she said: "[These instances] go against the way people in this country want asylum seekers to be treated , but Dungavel is run by dictat from the Home Office in London. They are not criminals yet they are treated like they are a danger to the public.

It is immoral and disgusting."

All incidents have been included in a motion to be put at Unison Scottish conference in April and are now to be raised with the Scottish Executive.

Jim Devine, Unison's Scottish organiser for health, said: "We are appalled at this. The treatment of asylum seekers in Scotland can be described as nothing other than draconian.

It is not the mark of a civilised society when we treat our sick in this way."

A spokeswoman for NHS Lanarkshire said: "We are keen to ensure a policy is developed for patients requiring hospital care from Dungavel. In this regard we have been working with various organisations and our Unison partnership representatives to develop and implement an acceptable policy."

The Home Office has said the handcuffing of detainees in hospital can happen "in some cases". Risk assessments are carried out to establish what security is required when they are outside Dungavel.