Cameron amends gaffe on health system

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LONDON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron Monday backed off comments that parts of the National Health Service were "second rate."

He instead told The Daily Telegraph he would not settle for "second-best" treatment.

In an interview defending his planned health service reform, the prime minister had said patients should not have to settle for "second-rate" care.

John Healey, Labor's shadow health secretary, jumped on the comment, saying, "David Cameron also seems to see the NHS as second-rate when everybody else has seen big improvements by Labor in recent years and public satisfaction is now at an all-time high. This is an insult to millions of NHS staff. … Those who know the health service best fear the government will force competition, price wars and privatization on the NHS at the expense of good patient care."

The government proposals have been branded "potentially disastrous" by the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing.

But Cameron responded that there is no easy fix to problems facing the healthcare system.

"Pretending that there is some easy option of sticking with the status quo and hoping that a little bit of extra money will smooth over the challenges is a complete fiction," he said.