Soaring obesity levels and rapid rises in the damage caused by alcohol have blighted Labour's 13-year record on health, according to the most comprehensive assessment of the NHS's performance during the 13 years since Tony Blair came to power.
A major report by the independent health charity the King's Fund, obtained by the Observer, paints a depressing picture of a nation afflicted by deteriorating eating and drinking habits, despite a number of public health campaigns.
The study, to be published tomorrow, will be seen as the definitive audit of Labour's achievements and failings since 1997. It concludes that overall, having doubled annual health spending in real terms, there has been "considerable progress" in moving the NHS towards a "high-performing health system".
The report notes real achievements, including dramatic falls in waiting lists, reductions in deaths resulting from cancer, fewer strokes and heart attacks, better access to drugs and a big fall in smoking. But the 108 page analysis – "A High Performing NHS?" – says there have also been marked failures, made worse by a decline in NHS productivity as money has poured into the service.
The King's Fund believes the NHS is unprepared for the future. It warns that the service will face a £21bn gap in its funding by 2014 as it struggles with tighter budgets and ever-increasing demand, including the needs of an ageing population. "In the medium term, financially, the NHS is facing the worst of times," it states.
The report will provide ammunition for all the main parties ahead of the first televised leaders' debate of the election campaign, on Thursday.
The Observer