The Conservatives on Monday raised the stakes over the amount of savings the National Health Service will have to make. They claimed they would save £1.5bn ($2.4bn) by “slashing bureaucracy” on top of the £15bn-£20bn in efficiency savings that ministers accept the service already needs to make.

Promising to cut NHS bureaucracy is a staple for opposition politicians – Alan Milburn, former health secretary, built his early political career out of it before the 1997 election.