The Tory minister has likened the NHS to the defunct video shop, Blockbuster, highlighting its need for modernisation.

Mr Javid has compared the NHS to the now obsolete rental shop, telling a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that sticking with the status quo is not an option.

This comes as the Government has set the NHS a target of improving its productivity to save £4.5 billion per year.

However the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said there was no new money to cover the reforms.

He told reporters: “The health and social care secretary updated Cabinet on the scale of the challenge post-pandemic, saying we had the Blockbuster healthcare system in the age of Netflix. He said it was no longer simply an option to stick to the status quo.”

He said large-scale changes were needed in areas such as the use of technology and data to help frontline workers deliver the high-quality service the public expects.

“He said the Government had set the NHS a target of dramatically improving productivity to save £4.5 billion a year.”

Describing the Blockbuster and Netflix analogy, the PM’s spokesman said the health secretary was making the point that some of the “structures and systems” within the healthcare system were “designed for a different age”.

Mr Javid has made it clear there needs to be “big and bold changes to the NHS and care system so the public can get the level of service they expect”.

The spokesman said there is no further investment planned for the NHS, beyond the proposed set out by the Chancellor.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused his Tory rival of making comments, without any plans to take action.

He said: “I think it’s slightly absurd that 12 years into a government we have government ministers who talk in the biggest generalities without plans to deliver anything.

“We have a government that is not governing and doesn’t have answers. It just has generalities.”

Blockbuster closed its remaining stores in the UK in December 2013.

It had struggled to compete against its rival streaming services.

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