The Conservatives have claimed that nearly 500,000 people are spending their savings on private health care since Labour came to power in a bid to avoid NHS waiting lists.

The claims came as the government announced a cut in waiting lists with the number of people awaiting admission to hospital falling by 50,200 from November 1999 to November 2000 to 1,021,200. Health minister, John Denham, said that 600,000 more operations were performed in 2000 than in 1996-1997.