by Lamiat Sabin

THE NHS needs solid plans to save it from total collapse rather than “clever rhetoric” from politicians reminding us how bad the crisis is, an anti-privatisation campaigner said yesterday.

Two-thirds of hospitals are facing drastic cuts this year that could force them into “recovery plans” involving fewer staff, bed reductions and closure of services.

This spells disaster for the NHS as Britain already operates with more shortages of medics, beds and equipment than most other wealthy nations, a report revealed yesterday.

Health Emergency campaign director John Lister said that we needed “genuine proposals to tackle the deficit,” which is projected at £759 million this year for 90 trusts — triple the comparable figure for 2014-15.

The debt is equivalent to £1.86 billion across all 240 trusts in England.

He said that that “ladder” to get the service out of the privatisation pit is the NHS Reinstatement Bill tabled by 12 MPs earlier this year to undo 25 years of marketisation by ending external contracts.

The Tory-led government also wasted a huge £3bn on a top-down reorganisation of the NHS, which has slashed patient care standards and taken funds away from the front line.

Severe staff shortages have also been plugged by shelling out an extortionate £1bn to recruit agency workers.

More than one million people were also forced to wait in A&E for more than four hours last year and operation waiting lists have run into a seven-year high.

Labour is pledging £2.5bn every year to provide 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more GPs — funded by the proposed mansion tax, a levy on tobacco companies and a crackdown on tax avoidance, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said.

The Tories have promised a minimum of £8bn for the NHS, but sometime in “the next five years.”

Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said: “Right now, our NHS is in grave danger because David Cameron has broken his promises on the NHS.

“Now he’s at it again, promising to protect the NHS with just a flimsy IOU,” he added.

There were just 2.8 doctors and 8.2 nurses per 10,000 patients in 2012, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Out of 30 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Britain is ranked 28th on healthcare resources.