PATIENTS who cannot be treated within new, legally-binding, waiting-time guarantees in Scotland could be sent overseas for surgery, according to plans by the Scottish Government.
Fears have been raised that placing a legal obligation on health boards to treat patients within a 12-week target could create a "litigation culture" in the NHS when the goal is not met.
But Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, said thi
s was not the intention of the proposals, which she said would end long waits for patients.
A consultation document also raises the prospect of a "no-fault compensation scheme" for the NHS, removing the need for long court battles between the health service and patients. But Ms Sturgeon revealed this would not yet be included in the new Patients' Rights Bill, as further work was needed to look at the costs of such a scheme.
Launching the consultation at the Beatson cancer centre in Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said the bill was an "important piece of healthcare legislation".
Among the proposals, patients referred for surgery will have to be treated within a 12-week legal guarantee, set within an 18-week overall target from GP to treatment, due to be met in 2011.
Ms Sturgeon said they envisaged that if boards could not meet the 12-week target, they would have to send patients for treatment elsewhere.
"That could mean another NHS board … potentially the existing private sector capacity we have in Scotland, or in extreme cases then treatment in another country," she said.
Ms Sturgeon admitted that, in some situations, patients could take their case to court if they faced long waits, as was already the case for those who believed they had a claim against the NHS.
"But we're not intending to create an increased legal culture in the NHS. Patients don't want to have to take an NHS board to court," she said.
"They want to get treatment and what this does is clarify the obligations a board is under to make sure that that kind of situation doesn't arise."
Ms Sturgeon also raised the possibility that a no-fault compensation scheme could be simpler than current methods used in the NHS. "I think getting away from a very adversarial, defensive system is a good idea," she said.
The NHS in Scotland paid over £21 million in compensation for clinical negligence cases in 2006-7.
A British Medical Association Scotland spokeswoman said: "Doctors have always had concerns about waiting-time targets and the need to focus on clinical need, not political priorities.
"There are also concerns that the prospect of legal action may create more problems than it resolves."
Labour's health spokeswoman, Cathy Jamieson, said the SNP could best achieve lower waiting times by putting more money into the system. "Labour believes that government policy should focus on improving treatment for patients, not creating more work for lawyers," she said.
But Margaret Watt, of the Scotland Patients Association, welcomed the legally-binding guarantees. "Patients should not be left in long queues like in a supermarket," she said.
The full article contains 516 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
