LABOUR’S Ed Miliband will warn today that the “future of our NHS is at stake” as the party sets out a 10-year plan in a bid to outflank the Tories on cuts-ravaged healthcare provision.

In a landmark speech in Trafford — home to the first ever NHS hospital in 1948 — leader Ed Miliband will declare that the service faces “its most perilous moment” and risks destruction if the Conservatives win in May.

“You will wait longer and longer for care, forced to go private if you want timely treatment, with more and more services hived off to the private sector,” his speech warns.By contrast Labour will herald a new era of “joined-up” care that it says could save the NHS £1 billion a year.

“When people can’t get to see their GP, they end up in A&E.

“When problems with mental health aren’t spotted early at school or work, they build up and end up in hospital.

“When elderly people can’t get the care they need at home, they are more likely to grow ill or have a fall and end up in hospital.”

In a separate speech in London, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham will vow to create a new wing of the NHS that will see 5,000 homecare workers hired to help terminally ill patients and serious cases discharged from hospitals.

He will also pledge to end 15-minute care slots for home visits — a key campaign objective of health union Unison — by “incentivising providers to improve social care and prevent vulnerable patients falling ill or injuring themselves.”

Elderly people will also receive home checks to reduce hospital stays.

“For the want of spending a few pounds in people’s homes on decent homecare, we are spending thousands of pounds keeping older people in hospital even when they are able to leave,” Mr Burnham will say.

“This is not sustainable in human or financial terms.”

And, highlighting the gap between wider care and mental health provision, Mr Burnham will say: “Our aspiration is to create a service that supports people with dementia, autism and mental ill health as well as it treats cancer.”