BASINGSTOKE health chiefs are gearing up for a big national change which will allow patients to choose where they have their operations.

Over the course of next summer, patients likely to be waiting more than six months for non-emergency operations will be given the choice of going somewhere else for quicker treatment. This could include a private hospital.

And from December 2005, patients who are told they need non-emergency surgery are to be given the choice of up to five hospitals - before they have even started waiting.

On top of this, hospitals have to make sure that, by December 2005, nobody is waiting more than six months for non-emergency surgery.

Basingstoke hospital's director of planning, Martyn Dell, said: "This is a very challenging timetable, but people are already being offered choice in some areas of work.

"On the face of it, it is good news, but you can imagine how complicated it's going to be to work out exactly what options we will offer to each patient."

North Hampshire Primary Care Trust will also be heavily involved in organising the "choice" programme and will have to appoint a patient care advisor to help patients choose what their best option may be.

But Basingstoke hospital is already taking part in a pilot scheme for cataract operations - a field in which only a handful of patients are now waiting more than six months.

The first group of 400 patients from Portsmouth are already coming up for cataract operations to be performed by the four consultants at Basingstoke.

Mr Dell agreed the obvious danger is that Basingstoke could be overwhelmed by patients of all types from other areas with longer waiting lists, such as the Portsmouth-Southampton conurbation.

But he said: "The first priority is local patients, so we need to work out how much of our total capacity we have got to reserve to hit the six-month target. Anything beyond that will be available for more distant patients."

Mr Dell added that the multi-million-pound diagnosis and treatment centre, which is to be built at the hospital, will have spare capacity to meet the "choice" requirements.

The whole initiative is set to be underpinned by greater use of electronic booking.

Mr Dell said: "Clearly GPs will be playing an absolutely pivotal role in this. But I'm confident about our position and I think we can still do very well."

At the end of July, 339 patients were waiting between six and eight months for operations at Basingstoke, and 113 patients were waiting between nine and 11 months.

About half are waiting for surgery on joints and bones.