The photos, which were taken with a camera phone without the patient or the other doctors and nurses' knowledge, were taken in the operating theatre. The room and hospital are identifiable from the NHS insignia on the wall.

The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has confirmed that a member of staff has been suspended from the hospital pending an internal investigation.

According to the Daily Record, a fellow nurse reported her colleague to management after spotting the offending images on Facebook.

The patients are said to be unrecognisable from the pictures. However they could sue the NHS as the picture constitute a breach of their patient confidentiality. Pictures are permitted during surgery but are only allowed to be sent via official NHS email and are used in order to get a second opinion.

A spokesman for nurses' union Unison said: "Staff should be well aware they need to be careful about what they put on social networking sites."