Health reforms are 'biggest car crash' in NHS history

The Coalition's watered-down health reforms were today branded the "biggest car crash" in NHS history by a key government adviser.

In a scathing attack, former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn said the opportunity for a wholesale market-based shake-up had been "set back for a generation" by bowing to short-term politics.

Mr Milburn, David Cameron's social mobility czar, also claimed the diluted plans would cost fortunes and had undermined the Government's reforming credentials. The criticism came as a member of the body which proposed changes to the Coalition's original blueprint warned the health service needs "competition and innovation" going forward.

Sir Stephen Bubb, who was in charge of choice and competition on the NHS Future Forum, said: "If the message is that it is business as usual, that is not going to be helpful for the long-term future of the health service."

Earlier this week Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg sought to defend the Government's NHS U-turn as a sign of strength. But writing in the Daily Telegraph, arch-Blairite Mr Milburn said: "The Government's health reforms are the biggest car crash in NHS history."