Michael Howard has launched Conservative plans to reform the health service, pledging to end hospital waiting lists and eradicate "superbugs" such as MRSA.

The Tory leader joined by shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley on Wednesday for the unveiling of his party's health manifesto.

He said he would put matrons onto every hospital ward with the power to shut them down when dirty, which he claimed Labour would not allow them to do.

"If you put one person in charge of keeping wards clean then everybody knows who is in charge - and that will be the matron," he told GMTV.

"One of the things we will ensure is that matrons have the final say. She won't be able to be overruled by hospital managers trying to meet government targets."

A new voucher scheme will also give every patient the right to treatment at any NHS hospital in the country, or take a public subsidy to the private sector, which Howard claimed would make waiting lists a "thing of the past".

"We will give every patient the right to choose, so that they, together with their GP, can decide what's best for them. No one will be forced to go to dirty hospitals or sit on waiting lists," Howard wrote in the Guardian.

"We will give all health providers meeting NHS standards the right to supply healthcare to NHS patients on exactly the same terms as NHS hospitals.

"And in cases where a provider charges the NHS more than the NHS tariff, we will pay half the cost of the NHS tariff. Why? Because choice is not meaningful if it's simply the government telling you where you can exercise it."

Rival plans

Coupled with a commitment to match Labour's health spending, the party is pledging to cut health service bureaucracy, provide more NHS dentists and give greater responsibility to doctors and nurses.

Labour last week promised to reduce waiting times to a maximum of 18 weeks from diagnosis to hospital treatment and is also pledged to extend choice, tackle dentistry shortages and put matrons onto wards.

But ministers claim the Tory plan would run down the NHS by part-privatising it with its subsidy to the middle class.

Health minister John Hutton claimed independent experts agreed it would "hand out piles of cash to people who would have already gone private."

He said: "At, best, it would take £1.2 billion away from the NHS without producing a single extra operation."

"At worst, it is the thin end of the wedge," he added, arguing that "the Tories are now committed to introducing charging into the NHS."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Paul Burstow said the Conservative plans were "uncosted, unfair and unbelievable."

"When Michael Howard talks about choice it is choice for the few and long waits for the rest," he said. "Subsidising private treatment for those who can afford it will cost the NHS £1.2 billion before a single extra operation is ever performed."