Cameron to promise 'no risks' in NHS reform

David Cameron will today attempt to breathe life back into the Coalition's faltering plans for the NHS.

In his first major speech on health since the controversial plans were put on hold, he will set out the case for radical reform while insisting that "this Government will never, ever take risks with the NHS".

He will also defend the highly contentious policy of abolishing all primary care trusts, whose "lack of clinical knowledge" makes them "the weakest link in the English NHS", he will claim.

The Prime Minister will also attack the rigidity of NHS rules, which restrict where patients can be treated, giving the hypothetical example of a patient who lives near a private hospital but has to go to an NHS hospital "that could be miles away" to get free treatment.

It was not clear last night whether Mr Cameron intended to include any mention in the speech of the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, who has come under heavy pressure from opponents of the planned reforms.