Speaking at The King's Fund, Starmer said the ‘full scale of the damage' to the NHS had been laid bare in the report and promised to address its findings in the Government's 10-year Plan.

The Prime Minister said the Government would provide the investments needed to fix the NHS but added there would be ‘no more money without reform', commenting ‘we have to fix the plumbing before turning on the taps'.

Starmer said the Government was ‘working at pace to build a 10-Year Plan that would be ‘different from anything that has gone before'.

He pledged ‘three fundamental reforms' rooted in Lord Darzi's findings. These are: moving from an analogue to a digital NHS; shifting more care from hospitals to communities; and being much bolder in moving from sickness to prevention.  

The PM concluded by saying ‘only fundamental reform and a plan for the long-term can turn around the NHS and build a healthy society'.

He said change ‘could amount to the biggest reimagining of our NHS since its birth', ending: ‘if we get this right, people can look back and say - this was the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history.  

‘Got it back on its feet and made it fit for the future.'

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King's Fund, said: ‘Having set out the diagnosis, the Government now needs to develop a detailed strategy for reform. That plan will need to model how greater investment in primary and community services will be implemented. It must also describe how ministers will embrace a truly cross-Government approach to improving the nation's health.'