More than 700,000 Scots with chronic pain will receive improved specialist care through a new dedicated pain management service.
Patients currently travel more than 400 miles to a centre in Somerset for treatment.
But speaking in Parliament, health secretary Alex Neil said he would consult on setting up a similar centre to the Bath Centre for Pain Services in Scotland. Alternatively, a mobile service could be established, or new services for chronic pain sufferers could be set up in a number of areas.
In a drive to help more people manage their pain, health boards have been tasked with creating action plans to improve the services available locally, such as pain management.
A public consultation is to be held in the summer to seek patients' views on how the residential service should be delivered.
Chronic pain is often attached to other conditions, such as arthritis, cancer, back pain or MS, which means it is often left to those specialist departments rather than having a service dedicated to the pain itself.
Around 17 people a year are sent to Bath in Somerset where they are treated at a specialist unit. The annual cost of providing the treatment is about £250,000.
Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil said: "The Scottish Government is committed to providing the best possible care for people with chronic pain. That is why I called this debate to discuss this important issue and our plans to improve services for Scottish patients – and that means treating patients as close to home as possible every time.
"We expect all health boards to have an action plan in place by the end of this year to improve local services and deliver faster access to the therapies that can help people to manage their pain and improve their quality of life.
"There will always be a small number of people who require more intensive pain management as often their pain cannot be cured.
"The creation of a Scottish residential service will ensure that those few patients will no longer need to travel outside Scotland to access specialist support.
A spokeswoman for the Chronic Pain Cross Party Group said: "Unlike even Wales, Scotland still doesn't have an inpatient service for the most severely affected minority out of a multitude. The majority of sufferers are adults but Scotland has around 70,000 children who also suffer from chronic pain.
"A few children and juveniles have also been sent on these gruelling journeys.
"At present, access to day clinics is often condemned as a postcode lottery, dependent on where you live. They're short of staff and funding, coping with an epidemic of long-term pain, increasing due to the age time bomb."
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