Figures to be published tomorrow are expected to confirm that the government will miss its target to recruit an extra 7,000 hospital consultants by the end of the year.

Human resources director at the Department of Health Andrew Foster admitted that the target had not been helpful, as it contradicted the ambition to transfer more workload to GPs.

"It doesn't help to have a target with a perverse aspect to it," he told the Health Service Journal.

Health minister John Hutton said the government would use private provision to make up for the shortfall.

And yesterday the government awarded two private hospital groups contracts to carry out nearly 25,000 orthopaedic operations.

Health secretary John Reid said they had cut their prices to comparable NHS levels in order to win the work.