Patients are to be offered the option of treatment at hospitals with shorter waiting lists, under new plans by the Scottish Executive.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said a waiting times database will be available on the internet by the end of the year - allowing patients choice in where to have their treatment.

Patients north of the border can already choose to be treated at any hospital within their health board area, but extra paper work is usually involved if it is not the nearest one.

Writing in Monday's Scotsman newspaper, Mr Chisholm spelled out his waiting times database plan which he said would result in a more flexible National Health Service (NHS), offering patients the choice of any hospital in Scotland.

Malcolm Chisholm: Bid to modernise the NHS

He said: "Patients for the first time will be able to see the whole picture across Scotland and choose somewhere with shorter waiting times.

The database proposals were being hailed as part of the executive's wider plans to bring about a modern and more efficient NHS.

Mr Chisholm said: "The government's role in all of this is to support and facilitate the change process."

He mentioned areas where the executive must act to ensure successful NHS modernisation, including the establishment of national priorities with a limited number of critical targets.

He said a Centre for Change and Innovation, to assist frontline staff in seeing through improvements, would also be set up.

The waiting times database will be available online by the end of the year, Mr Chisholm said.

Opposition response

SNP health spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon said the move was "a vital step" towards patient power.

But she said: "Unfortunately, Labour are only giving people the right to choose, without giving the health service the means to make this choice possible.

"Without the beds and staff needed to allow hospitals to take additional patients, this system is likely to be little more than a right no-one is able to exercise," she added.

The British Medical Association broadly welcomed the database move but said it could create pressure on hospitals which are doing well.

It also voiced concern that the idea will be complicated to manage.