Minister admits NHS failures

Parts of the NHS have "gone backwards" under Labour and are now in a worse state than they were under the Tories, a minister admitted today.

The frank assessment, from Labour Party chairman Charles Clarke, came as Chancellor Gordon Brown was putting his final touches to tomorrow's pre-Budget report outlining future spending plans.

His statement to MPs is likely to show health costs rising dramatically, and Treasury officials have already floated the possibility of tax rises to fund massive investment in the NHS. Mr Clarke's comments, on the BBC's Westminster Hour, were a world away from Labour's language in the days before the 1997 General Election when the party claimed voters had "48 hours to save the NHS".

The Labour chairman said: "There have been massive improvements in some parts of the NHS but in other areas we have even gone backwards. It is a very, very patchy situation."

He agreed that failure to visibly deliver might cost Labour the next election.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said today that the NHS is to receive more than £1billion a week to help slash long waits for treatment.

Private care funded by the NHS will cut waiting times for huge numbers of patients and spending will rise to a total of £52.6 billion next year - up £4billion on 2001 - under plans Mr Milburn will announce to MPs on Wednesday.