Under the plans announced by Tony Blair, patients waiting six months for an operation will be asked if they want to be treated at another hospital.

The scheme, which aims to slash NHS waiting times, will be offered to patients in London from this summer and across the rest of England by the middle of 2004.

We have to welcome anything that speeds up treatment for patients Mike Stone, Patients' Association

It comes as a study suggests NHS delays may be exaggerated. Researchers at Bristol University have found that most long waits are caused by just a small number of hospitals.

They looked at patients waiting more than six months for ear, nose and throat operations, general surgery, orthopaedic surgery and trauma surgery.

Long waits

They found that about 80% of these patients were waiting to be seen at just 25% of all of the NHS trusts in England.

The study's authors said their findings suggested the NHS may be in a much better state than national waiting list figures imply.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, they said: "The study challenges the widely held assumption that most patients in England are being forced to wait unacceptably long periods of time for elective surgery."

I don't think anyone within the health service would deny that we need to do something about patients who do wait a long time Nigel Edwards, NHS Confederation

Their findings back up the government's latest efforts to cut delays.

The decision to offer patients a choice over where they are treated suggests there is spare capacity in the NHS in some areas.

The policy is based on a scheme for heart patients currently which went nationwide last year.

It allows patients who have been waiting for cardiac surgery for at least six months to go to another hospital in the NHS or in the private sector for treatment.

Around half are believed to have taken up the offer so far.

Mike Stone, director of the Patients Association, welcomed the decision to extend the scheme.

"We have to welcome anything that speeds up treatment for patients."

But speaking to BBC News Online, he added: "This should be a short-term measure. Patients should not be choosing hospitals and forced to travel across the country for treatment. We need to ensure that local hospitals are able to cope with local demand."

Concerns

Doctors also voiced concerns over the scheme.

Dr Edwin Borman of the British Medical Association said: "It's definitely good news for individual patients waiting a long time for an operation."

But he added: "The money to pay for this instead of going into NHS hospitals will be subsidising the private sector and taxpayers' money is even going to go abroad."

The Conservative Party criticised Mr Blair's announcement. Shadow Health Secretary Liam Fox said: "It smacks of a prime minister desperate to divert attention away from his failed NHS policy."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Dr Evan Harris added: "Many people will be prepared to travel to avoid waiting.

"But because the government still insists that political targets on the most stable patients are met, urgent patients who are not well enough to travel will still have to wait.

"This is another example of how the Government is failing to allow hospitals to treat the sickest quickest."

But the NHS Confederation, which represents health service managers, welcomed the move.

Nigel Edwards, its director of policy, said: "It's an important policy.

"I don't think anyone within the health service would deny that we need to do something about patients who do wait a long time.

"I think it is an indication that we are ready to move to the next stage."