Tony Blair was today claiming a decade of Labour reforms has "saved" the NHS.

He was using his final weeks in office to set out his legacy and urging critics to look at ongoing rows over pay and recruitment in the context of the advances.

Junior doctors yesterday backed a call for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to quit over botched training reforms and industrial action is also possible over moves to stagger a pay rise.

The PM was appearing alongside Ms Hewitt to present reports by Government health "tsars" on progress in four areas: cardiac care; cancer treatment; emergency services; and mental health.

His spokesman said: "These are the issues that the public said mattered to them and Government has responded by successfully dealing with them."

Ten years to the day since warning voters they had "24 hours to save the NHS", Mr Blair said why he feels he has done so.

He said: "We have improved care across the board by putting patients first. In doing so we have ended the era of uniform, monolithic provision in the NHS.

"We have put new incentives into the system and devolved power to the front line and communities to continue accelerating progress.

"Ten years on, high quality care on the NHS is genuinely universal, still free at the point of use and focused on those who need it most."

Mr Blair was also pointing to reduced waiting lists, "huge" investment in staff and 154 new or planned hospitals as proof changes had "saved the NHS".

The debate had "moved on" from one about its survival to one of "quality, excellence and value for money".

The Tories said Mr Blair, who will quit as PM this summer, had presided over "10 wasted years".

The NHS had gone on "a circular and wasteful journey back towards the structures of the last Conservative Government" that had cost the taxpayer £3billion in shake-ups.

In a rival report, they said 1.2million more people would be getting treatment now if the rate of increase inherited by Labour in 1997 had continued. It pointed to "failures" such as hospital acquired infections and financial deficits.

Ms Hewitt said one in 10 hospitals still had "serious deficits" but added: "The NHS as a whole is in balance."