The BMJ has an interesting article by John Appleby, Chief Economist of The King's Fund, on Tory lies in the NHS debate: specifically the Tory claim that England has twice as many deaths from heart disease than France.

The attendant graph shows that in 2006 this was true but that the trend in England is sharply down and on current trends, England will perform better than France on that statistic as early as next year.

The Tories also forget to mention that  France has the lowest rate of heart failure in Europe and that France spends 11.2% of GDP on health, while in the UK it is 8.7%, and that the Conservatives plan  to cut funding, not increase it. 

In other words, under Labour this illness was addressed and is being solved, the NHS in England is at least as efficient and effective as its French counterpart, and the Tories' changes will do nothing to help: indeed there is nothing to suggest that they will not, in fact, make matters worse....

Mr Appleby also questions the analysis of statistics on mortality and survival rates, and claims that they are not as bad in comparison with European statistics as some people claim.

Worth a read