Over 17,000 deaths a year could be saved if NHS performance improved, a new study claims today.

The Taxpayers' Alliance claims the £34 billion of extra spending on the NHS by Labour has made no difference to mortality rates.

Its claims are based on an analysis of World Health Organisation data, comparing NHS performance to its European counterparts since 1981.

This took into account how many deaths could plausibly have been averted by the NHS - a measure known as mortality amenable to healthcare.

The calculations compare the UK performance to that of Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain.

The Taxpayers' Alliance says if the UK were to achieve the same level of mortality amenable to healthcare as the average of the other European countries studied, there would have been 17,157 fewer deaths in 2004.

This is over five times the total number of deaths in road accidents.

The campaigning group argues its findings show the government's extra NHS spending has failed to deliver results.

Report author Matthew Sinclair said: "Thousands are dying every year thanks to Britain's health service not delivering the standards people expect and receive in other European countries.

"Billions of pounds have been thrown at the NHS but the additional spending has made no discernable difference to the long-term pattern of falling mortality. This is a colossal waste of lives and money.

"We need to learn lessons from European countries with healthcare systems that don't suffer from political management, monopolistic provision and centralisation."

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