Labour shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham urged a last-ditch campaign to save the NHS from wanton destruction by Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday.

"The NHS has never been in a more dangerous position than it is right now," warned Mr Burnham.

"Things cannot go on like this," he declared in a hard-hitting speech to trade unionists in Birmingham.

"It is time to raise the alarm about what is happening to the NHS and build a campaign for change."

Since last April seven out of 10 NHS contracts have gone to the private sector amid a "brutal campaign" to run the entire service down.

"Who gave this Prime Minister permission to put our NHS up for sale, something which Margaret Thatcher never dared?" he demanded.

The last 12 months had been the worst year for at least a decade in A&E departments, he said, with almost a million people waiting more than four hours.

"The price we are all paying for the Prime Minister's folly is a seemingly permanent A&E crisis, which gets worse and worse."

Mr Burnham blasted Mr Cameron for scrapping Labour's guarantee of a GP appointment within 48 hours, leading to an increase in people attending A&E departments.

Cuts of billions of pounds to social care and mental health budgets had also worsened the situation.

Another reason for pressure on A&E was the cost-of-living crisis, with many people struggling to afford to eat and keep their homes warm.

Diseases of malnutrition such as scurvy and rickets were on the rise, he added, "diseases we once thought had gone for good."