A leading cancer specialist has claimed that the £40 billion of extra investment for the NHS is being squandered.

In a report published on Monday Dr Maurice Slevin, a cancer specialist for two decades, says the health service is "on the brink of implosion".

New money is being "wasted on a proliferating bureaucracy, the setting and monitoring of targets and paying off historic debt".

The criticism comes in a pamphlet entitled "Resuscitating the NHS: A Consultant's View" published by the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies.

Dr Slevin warns that there is little evidence to suggest that the new money will make a difference.

And he claims that "waste and mismanagement are rife" throughout the health service.

"I still work in the NHS as a cancer physician," says the report. "I have seen at first hand the steady decay of a great public institution...The NHS is imploding."

The Department of Health insisted new money was being well spent.

"There's clear evidence that resources that have been invested in the NHS are producing results, with waiting times coming down," said a spokesman.