Labour peer Lord Winston, one of the UK's top medical experts, has launched a fierce attack on his own party over the running of the health service.

In an embarrassing blow to the government, the fertility expert accused it of being "deceitful" in its claims to have abolished the internal market in the NHS. He said the government's reorganisation of the health service had been "very bad".

Lord Winston warned that the government would have to raise taxes or introduce a health insurance system if the NHS was to function efficiently in the 21st Century.

His views are expected to cause acute embarrasment to the government at a time when it faces a barrage of criticisim from opposition parties over its handling of the flu outbreak.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn has ordered an inquiry after a pensioner had cancer surgery cancelled four times during the NHS flu crisis. Mavis Skeet, 74, was told on Thursday it was now too late to save her life.

The Tories said the NHS had been "brought to its knees" trying to deal with patients suffering from flu.

In an interview with the New Statesman magazine, to be published on Thursday, Lord Winston states: "It's not good enough to say we're going to spend £20bn over 35 years or whatever.

"Do we want a health service that is steadily going to deteriorate and be more and more rationed and will be inferior on vital areas such as heart disease and cancer, compared to our less well-off neighbours?

"That is the way it is going at the moment. If we don't want that, then we pay more tax or have an insurance system. I see no alternative."

Lord Winston said funding for the NHS was "not as good as Poland's" and that services in his own speciality were "much the worst in Europe".

'Astonishing condemnation'

He was also highly critical of Labour's claims to have abolished the NHS internal market.

He said: "I think we've been quite deceitful about it. We gave categorical promises that we would abolish the internal market. We have not done that.

"We have made medical care deeply unsatisfactory for a lot of people."

Mr Blair's official spokesman said Lord Winston was "perfectly entitled to his views", but added: "The prime minister would argue that there have been and are capacity constraints in the NHS and we are seeking to address them.

"There has been a lot of support in the NHS for the structural changes we are making."

Shadow health secretary Liam Fox said: "Given Lord Winston's credentials, his comments are an astonishing condemnation of Tony Blair's incompetence in running the NHS.

"The prime minister's chronic mismanagement of the health service has thrown it into acute crisis.

"Everybody outside the Labour Party knows that - the truth is obviously now getting closer to home.