NHS patients would be offered private treatment in an effort to cut waiting times under a new Welsh Conservative policy.

The party's Welsh Assembly leader Nick Bourne said he wanted to remove "ideological barriers" between the public and private sector to ensure high-quality healthcare.

Patients with life-threatening conditions where waiting time limits have been breached would be offered the option.

Mr Bourne was speaking during a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth.

Welsh Tories: policy rundown

Private treatment for waiting NHS patients Cash for schools to be ring-fenced Student tuition fees to be scrapped No coalition in Welsh Assembly Government Full Welsh Assembly election manifesto released in draft on October 19

With seven months to May's assembly election, he also made his position clear on a range of policies and attacked all of the other opposition parties.

Without having been given a platform to speak to delegates from the conference main stage, Mr Bourne had to find an alternative venue to host his 70-strong Tory audience.

With just 16.2% of the votes at 1999's inaugural Welsh Assembly election, the party appears unlikely to be able to form any government so the health policy is almost certain nto to be implemented.

But - after Labour's recent wrangling over the private finance initiative (PFI) in public services - Mr Bourne has his position on the issue clear. It will be one of his key policies next spring.

'Ideological barriers'

"We would end the misery and suffering of Welsh patients forced to wait years for treatment under Labour...

"... by funding their operations in the independent sector if waiting time limits are breached," he said.

May's election is a big test for Nick Bourne

"The Welsh Conservatives would set about removing the ideological barriers to ensure high quality healthcare free at the point of need."

The Scottish Executive has already introduced a similar policy.

Labour Party conference delegates last week voiced fierce opposition to the UK Government's stance on use of commercial money in services like healthcare.

The Welsh Assembly Government is approaching PFI cautiously, but is not opposing limited use.

Mr Bourne said 80,000 people in Wales were waiting over six months for outpatient treatment - more than enough to fill the Millennium Stadium.

Education policies

But he also turned his attention to education, saying: "Regulation, control and interference are slowly strangling education in Wales."

A Tory administration in Cardiff Bay would ring-fence cash for schools and end the "funding fog" which shrouds arrangements for funding education, he said.

This coalition has totally lost its bearings and is in the throes of an identity crisis

Nick Bourne, Welsh Conservatives

He repeated his line on effectively abolishing tuition fees.

"Beyond school, we would counter rising student debt by refunding the total cost of tuition fees for all students.

"Totally, absolutely, no strings attached. No Scottish coalition cobbled compromise. We would have no tuition fees in Wales."

Unlike his Labour and Liberal Democrat counterparts, Mr Bourne was not given a platform on the main stage of this year's party conference.

He is the final Welsh party figurehead to mark his territory for May's election.

Wales Labour Party leader Rhodri Morgan said he will fight on the economy and public services, while Liberal Democrat assembly leader Mike German claimed coalition successes as his own.

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said his party was ready to govern.

'Identity crisis

Mr Bourne savaged the coalition in particular, slating its priorities over its two-year lifespan.

"[They are] health, care, jobs - health of the coalition, care of Mike German, jobs for the Liberals," he said.

"It has been a shambles from the very beginning."

"This coalition has totally lost its bearings and is in the throes of an identity crisis. It is the political equivalent of Frankenstein: part New Labour; part Old Labour; part Liberal Democrat.

"With no guiding principle or philosophy, they govern by spin."

He ruled out ever forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, whom he labelled "political prostitutes". He received a standing ovation.

Welsh Conservatives will finalise their draft manifesto for May's election in a meeting on October 19.