David Cameron has urged voters to back the Conservatives to ensure NHS reform is delivered.

The Conservative leader also accused Labour of being guilty of "point-scoring" on the health service.

The party has come under fire for its approach to the NHS after Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan appeared on US television and stated that he "would not wish [the NHS] on anybody".

Cameron was forced to describe Hannan's views as "eccentric" and insisted that the Tories were "foursquare behind the NHS".

And delivering a speech in Bolton, Cameron set out his views on the NHS.

"In America today, there is a real debate going on about health care. But here in Britain, the recent political exchanges over the NHS have neither been real, nor a debate," he said.

"Not real, because they have focused on a question that is now settled: The Conservative Party's commitment to the NHS.

"And not a debate, because the back and forth of the past week or so seems to have been more about political point-scoring than a serious discussion of an extremely serious subject."

Cameron added that the health service "is crying out for the next stage of change".

"I believe we have shown that we are the ones to bring about that change, and that we have earned the right to call ourselves the party of the NHS today," he said.

In the speech, Cameron said that he did not want to be "unfair" in his criticism of Labour.

"They have the best intentions, and they have done some good with the NHS," he conceded.

But he claimed that NHS reforms under Labour had "come to the end of the line".

"Our health service is crying out for the next stage of change," the Conservative leader said.

"I believe we have shown that we are the ones to bring about that change, and that we have earned the right to call ourselves the party of the NHS today."