Cameron pledges to slash NHS costs

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The Conservative leader repeated his pledge to ring-fence the health budget, but insisted that money would be better spent.

The £4.5 billion annual bill for administering the NHS is "astonishing", and must be slashed by a third over the next four years, he said.

In a speech in London setting out Tory priorities for the NHS, Mr Cameron insisted: "Spending on the NHS cannot stand still.

"But that does not mean we are simply going to pour money in as Labour have done.

"If we change nothing, and if productivity keeps falling at the rate it is today, then even with real-terms increases in spending we couldn't hope to cope with the pressures on the NHS.

"That's why, as well as those increases, we urgently need reform to make our whole health service more efficient.

"We are determined that a Conservative pound will go much further than a Labour pound."