The health select committee has said health trusts in England are resorting to short-term slicing of services to meet the government's efficiency targets instead of looking for long-term reforms to practices.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told the Today programme's Justin Webb that he did not see any evidence to suggest that "salami-slicing" is happening.

He insisted that the government was increasing resources for the NHS year-on-year but that, in order to respond to demand, it needed to to deliver "genuine efficiency" savings.

Mr. Lansley added that the government was "integrating social care effectively" which is what everyone wants.

He went on to say that it was "self-defeating" to cut budgets just to re-invest savings made back into the system.

And he admitted that, while some primary care providers had made the wrong decisions, they are making reforms in the "right way" and that there was "support for the principles" from professional organisation for their restructuring of the health system.

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