The Archbishop of York has voiced concern that the safety of patients may be put at risk by changes to the way the NHS is run.

Dr John Sentamu’s warning comes just days before peers are due to vote on the Government’s controversial Health and Social Care Bill.

The Bill outlines plans to give more responsibility for spending the budget to GPs and clinicians, while opening up more of the care provision to private providers.

The Government argues that competition between hospitals would improve quality in the NHS and that the changes would give patients greater choice over the treatment they receive.

Critics argue, however, that the reforms will lead to a privatisation of the NHS and limit the number of services available, discriminating against the poor and the elderly in particular.

Dr Sentamu, who recently had emergency surgery to remove his appendix at an NHS hospital, questioned the proposals.

He said: "We must never allow health provision in this country to become exclusive. Decent health care should not solely be the preserve of those that can afford to purchase it. I am certainly not persuaded by internal competitive markets when one is treating very ill patients."

He said there was a need for a national debate on healthcare provision within the NHS.

“We need to recognise that there are no easy answers when we look at the demands on the NHS.

“Whilst we may strive to deliver value for money, we cannot allow care to be market-led or commercialised to the point where patient safety is put at risk. You cannot compare an NHS hospital to a supermarket.

“If we accept that healthcare can only touch some of the factors contributing to the overall health of a person, we need to challenge policy-makers over those aspects of funding and social policy that affect those who are suffering or living under the burden of societal injustice.”

The Archbishop said it was necessary to listen to doctors, not just patients, as he warned against the impact of excessive bureaucracy on healthcare provision.

“Doctors took up the vocation to treat patients and not to be managers of budgets or fund-holders. Let us not do to doctors what we have done to teachers: made them managers of budgets with targets to meet.”

He continued: “The problem with targets are that they are not based on need, they are based on numbers. I spent two weeks in St Thomas’s Hospital.

“What was the target for treating someone with a very acute condition which came on suddenly? What was the permissible budget?

“It is not just the patients who suffer because of this behaviour. We should not underestimate the impact of bureaucracy on the morale of those working in the health system.”

The Bill is due to come before peers on Wednesday.