NHS boards have been told that caring for patients in corridors is "unacceptable", under new Scottish government plans to clear bottlenecks in hospitals.

Health Secretary Angela Constance said the scheme would improve the flow of patients through hospitals - with a focus on emergencies, life-threatening conditions and specialist care.

The Health and Care Improving Flow Plan asks health boards to reduce corridor care and states that it "should be eradicated".

In a statement, Constance said: "At its heart, improving hospital flow is not about targets, processes or organisational structures.

"It is about people and ensuring they can access the care they need, when and where they need it.

"While more care will be offered closer to home, via pharmacies, community-based hubs such as GP walk-in services and healthy heart and lung checks, some people may need to travel further to receive the most highly specialised care.

"Where people are experiencing a life-threatening emergency or requiring acute care, they will continue to be cared for in a hospital setting."

In A&E, Scotland has a target that 95% of patients are to be seen, admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours of arrival.

Waiting times for non-urgent treatment in Scotland's hospitals can stretch into months and years, with ministers trying to cut the longest waits of over 52 weeks.

Long waits have fallen for nine months in a row but a target to eradicate them by the end of March was missed.

To help clear the backlogs, the Health and Care Improving Flow Plan aims to have the majority of patients discharged from hospital within three days "where clinically safe".

And it pledges to make it easier for people to access the healthcare needed "at the first time of asking".

This will come via an enhanced urgent care triage system and new "integrated navigation centres" - delivered jointly by NHS 24, the Scottish Ambulance Service and health boards.

Constance added: "We will continue to evaluate how this plan is being implemented.

"Where services are performing well, we'll support learning by spreading good practice.

"Where it falls short, we will provide support and, if necessary, take decisive action to improve outcomes for patients and communities."

The health secretary's announcement follows a difficult month for Scotland's hospitals.

NHS Grampian suspended all planned paediatric surgery at Dr Gray's hospital in Elgin after concerns about the quality and safety of care for children.

It followed an unannounced inspection by Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) in April.

Meanwhile, Dr Iain Kennedy, outgoing chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland, claimed that Scotland's NHS was more focused on its reputation than patient safety.

He said clinicians who raised concerns often had their "characters challenged" and their careers had suffered.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: "Sadly there is a culture of cover-up, there's a culture of trying to keep things hidden and to protect the reputation of health boards and ultimately to protect the government."

And a scientist involved in the construction of Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) claimed his safety concerns were ignored for 15 years in a late submission to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry.

Nursing union RCN Scotland welcomed the move to end corridor care, but said the plan "stops short" of setting out how it would be monitored and reported.

Executive director Colin Poolman said: "Too often our members are experiencing the impact hospital overcrowding has on patient safety and dignity, and on their own wellbeing.

"The plan rightly recognises that corridor care is a consequence of pressures across the whole system, but fails to identify and set out investment in the workforce needed to deliver improvements."