Howard says dogma must not get in the way of NHS changes

At prime minister's questions, Mr Howard demanded to know why the woman could not choose another hospital.

The health secretary said Mr Howard should apologise to the NHS trust after they said the longest wait for any of their cancer patients was 14 weeks.

The Tories said the row should not detract from the waiting list issue.

Health Secretary John Reid told the BBC's Breakfast programme: "It appears that he made a mistake and I think that when you raise such an important issues with such publicity and use it for such political ends and you get it wrong I think he should do the honourable thing and apologise to the hard working NHS staff ... for failing to check his facts."

Labour's call came after Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said in a statement: "The trust has no cancer patients waiting 20 months for radiotherapy.

'British disease'

"The longest wait for radiotherapy as of Monday this week was 14 weeks for low risk cancers where it was either clinically safe to wait or where the radiotherapy formed part of a follow-up treatment."

A Tory spokesman said the case had been put to Mr Howard in a letter from a constituent - and to protect their privacy, no further details would be released.

He said: "But the case of this constituent should not deflect from the fact that waiting lists in general are a British disease that we want to get rid of."

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley defended Mr Howard's stance.

If the private sector can help drive up standards, let's use it Michael Howard Tory leader Full text: Howard speech

He said: "He wasn't setting out to say 'sort out what treatment should be provided to my constituent'.

"He was saying - and actually if you look at the cancer plan, the government say - you should not wait more than two months for treatment.

"So if it is 20 weeks and not 20 months, then admittedly that was wrong - but the constituent may have got it wrong."

It is the latest example of a political row evolving over the details of one patient's care.

Similar arguments arose when former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith raised the case of pensioner Rose Addis and when Labour featured a girl in the 1992 election campaign, in a case that became known as 'Jennifer's Ear', to illustrate NHS failings.

Treatment demands

During heated exchanges in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Howard challenged Tony Blair, saying: "One of my constituents has just been told that she must wait 20 months to get radiotherapy treatment for her breast cancer.

"Why shouldn't she have the right to choose an NHS hospital which could treat her more quickly?"

Later, as he unveiled the Tory blueprint for the NHS, Mr Howard said his ambition was to end waiting lists.

There are three main strands to the Tory package:

• The right for patients to be treated at any NHS hospital in the country

• Freedom for NHS staff, with central targets scrapped and hospitals given new powers to borrow and invest money

• The right for independent hospitals to do NHS work for NHS prices and standards.

They would also allow patients a subsidy worth half the NHS cost of an operation if they want to go private.

Critics say that proposal could take �1bn out of the health service but the Tories instead argue the move would free up NHS resources and cut the cost of private health insurance.