NHS is no longer world best says Shropshire MP Owen Paterson

Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, has said it is time to "debunk the myth" that the UK has the best healthcare system in the world.

Mr Paterson will today present a report commissioned by the UK2020 think tank, which he founded, that concludes the UK lags behind other similar countries in health outcomes.

The Conservative MP will also call for an inquiry into the performance of the NHS against international comparisons.

The report concludes that annual avoidable deaths from common serious diseases, such as breast and prostate cancer and stroke, are about 46,000 higher in the UK than if it performed as well as the countries with the best health outcomes.

In a speech tonight he will say: "It is clear that possibly the most unquestioned consensus in politics today concerns the National Health Service. It is an area of public policy that, like no other, a politician dare not touch.

"The NHS towers above all else as the one common cultural unifier that we hold onto. To take a critical tone toward the NHS is considered almost unpatriotic.

"We simply do not have the best healthcare system in the world and the sooner we debunk the myth ... the sooner we can square up to the reality and start improving our healthcare system. Until we do, thousands of our fellow citizens will continue to die prematurely."

In response, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Cancer survival rates are now at a record high, but we know we need to do better to compare with the best internationally – which is why we are investing £300 million in a new commitment that all suspected cancer patients will be given a definitive diagnosis or the all clear within 28 days of being urgently referred."