Swindon patients fed up with long waits could soon be entitled to treatment in foreign countries.

Under a new European Union plan, patients will be free to take advantage of health services offered in other EU countries.

The health proposals fall under the general plan for liberalising services, and will not become law without further discussion.

However, it is the first time concrete proposals from the EU have been published.

South West Member of the European Parliament, Caroline Jackson, said: "This is good news for patients who have been facing unacceptably long waits for treatment.

"It is an indictment of the British Government that so many British patients stand to gain from this initiative.

"It is now down to the Government to get the management of the system right, so that patients benefit and health service managers are able to plan their budgets and services effectively.

"This proposal will provide valuable new rights for patient healthcare."

But health chiefs in Swindon are not embracing health tourism of this kind.

Lyn Hill-Tout, chief executive of the Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs the Great Western Hospital, said: "As a trust we are not planning to send any of our patients abroad.

"We are working hard to reduce waiting times in line with the NHS plan and would prefer our patients to be treated locally, not least because of the pre and post-operative care that we would offer. It's also easier for relatives to visit."

Deborah Lee, director of primary care and commissioning at Swindon Primary Care Trust, echoed the hospital trust's view. She said: "This idea has been around in different formats for a while. It is not something we have had to resort to.

"We aim to provide care locally wherever we can and we would only offer patients care overseas if we couldn't give them acceptable time frames.

"There is no blanket time scale for acceptable waiting times as every individual case is assessed on its own merit. So the clinical need of a patient would dictate the level of care they received as opposed to the length of time they had waited.

"The PCT would like to offer patients choice but hope their first choice would be the local services."

The proposal will now go forward for adoption by the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers.

Alex Emery