Alan Milburn has set out how he intends to match investment with reform in the NHS.

The health service will see 15,000 new doctors, 30,000 new nurses and 40 new hospitals - but will be overseen by a "super regulator" which will monitor efficiency.

He said the new Commission for Audit and Inspection would be the "judge" on standards whilst the public "would be the jury" on the government's reform plans.

Prompting claims of a return to the internal market, the health secretary said a new "US-style" payments system - where the money will follow the patient - will be put in place.

The change, said Milburn, effectively means that patients will choose where they are treated and will provide extra rewards for public sector and private sector hospitals which treat more patients.

But a cautionary note was struck yesterday by Derek Wanless, who warned ministers against trying to change the NHS too quickly.

In an interview with The Times, he warns that the future of the health service is still clouded by "uncertainty".

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the government's plans would be doomed unless ministers considered more radical alternatives to a state funded and centralised NHS.