DAVID Cameron’s “ideological prescription” for cuts and privatisation could kill off the NHS within five years, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham warns today.

Writing exclusively for the Morning Star, Mr Burnham insists it is “no exaggeration” to say the future of the NHS as a public service is at risk if the Tory Prime Minister stays in office.

Labour’s health chief says a looming £7 billion funding shortfall combined with the Tories pro-privatisation policy will “create a toxic medicine that may well finish the patient off.”

He says: “The NHS has been reduced to such a state that, if things don’t change, it could be about to get a whole lot worse.

“The extreme Tory spending plans will see social care further stripped out, pushing hospitals to breaking point.

“And, with the Health and Social Care Act still in force, the next parliament could see the NHS sunk by a toxic mix of cuts, crisis and privatisation.”

His stark warning comes as health campaigners flock to London for the People’s Convention for the NHS.

Hundreds of people resisting health cuts in their communities are expected at the Westminster event to discuss the crisis facing Britain’s most cherished public service.

Their efforts have been given a major boost by backing from pop star Paloma Faith and actors Ricky Tomlinson and Stephen Mangan.

Organiser Steve Sweeney described the convention as part of the “battle for the soul of the NHS.”

The crisis talks come just four weeks before the general election, which veteran health campaigner Harry Leslie Smith today dubs the most important since 1945.

The 92-year-old has won hero status since publishing Harry’s Last Stand, a personal testimony of the poverty his family faced before the creation of the welfare state and NHS.

He moved many delegates to tears when he told last year’s Labour conference how his sister died of tuberculosis because his family couldn’t afford the private medical fees.

And, writing in the Star’s special NHS supplement, he warns “another Tory government will ensure that my past becomes Britain’s future.

“This year’s general election is as important to this generation as 1945 was to mine because another Tory government would ensure that my past becomes Britain’s future,” he says.

“It is imperative that everyone votes because being cynical about democracy today will guarantee the tyranny of corporate healthcare tomorrow.”

Setting out Labour’s alternative, Mr Burnham promises the party that created the NHS will secure its future in the “21st century as a public service which puts people before profits.”

A Labour government would save money by treating more patients in their homes as part of a merger of health and social care, he explains.

Coupled with funds raised from a mansion tax and tobacco levy, that would be enough to employ 3,000 more midwives, 5,000 more care workers, 8,000 more GPs and 20,000 more nurses, he said.

Labour will spell out its full plans for the future of the NHS at the party’s manifesto launch on Monday.