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The prime minister has seized on comments by the shadow health secretary to argue that the Conservatives are planning spending reductions.
In the Commons, Gordon Brown said the next election would be a choice between Labour investment and Tory cuts.
Speaking earlier on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Andrew Lansley had explained that his party intended "real terms growth for the NHS" beyond 2011.
He added that international aid and education spending would also increase, but that would mean "over three years after 2011, a 10 per cent reduction in the departmental expenditure limits for other departments".
Repeatedly highlighting the comments during prime minister's questions, Brown said the Conservatives would "cut into our basic public services".
At the next election "there will be a choice between the government that actively intervened to deal with the recession and a Conservative Party that said 'do nothing'", he said.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Lab, Manchester Gorton) urged the prime minister to maintain funding for public services and reject Conservative proposals for a 10 per cent cut in spending, describing the plan as a "return to worst days of Thatcherism".
Brown replied that Lansley had announced plans for a 10 per cent cut across all departments. The choice is now between government investment and Tory cuts, he repeated.
Virendra Sharma (Lab, Ealing Southall) also asked for reassurance that Labour would not implement Tory plans for the NHS.
The comments revealed the choice between "investment under Labour and massive cuts under the Conservative Party", the prime minister argued.
Andrew Selous (Con, Bedfordshire South West) highlighted concerns that patients at district hospitals undergo "inappropriate operations which later have to be reversed by specialist hospitals".
Brown responded: "I think you will be as equally as concerned as I am by the remarks of the shadow health secretary that he is going to be cutting spending in the vital areas of our country."
The prime minister said that "before the Conservatives ask for more spending on health services, they should talk to the shadow chancellor and the shadow health secretary".
Cameron, however, said Brown's legacy after the next election would be the biggest budget deficit in British history.
The Conservative leader said ministers were already planning spending cuts and insisted the election would be about the "mismanagement of the public finances, the appalling deficit he has left and his plans for cuts".
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