A LEADING figure in the region's health service has predicted that a universally-free NHS will be abandoned within a decade.

Ken Jarrold, the chief executive of County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority, made his remarks in an address to health service managers.

Mr Jarrold, a former Department of Health human resources director, said: "In ten years, people in this room will be paying for their own healthcare; it will only be free for those who cannot afford it.

"The NHS will be about commissioning, inspection, monitoring and not necessarily provision. We all need to be preparing for that."

During the conference, Mr Jarrold also predicted that health authorities will become regional authorities.

Liz Twist, of the trade union Unison, said: "This is just the kind of blue skies thinking we can do without. What we want to hear is that there will be a universally available health service free to those who need it at the point of delivery."

Middlesbrough GP Dr John Canning said: "The health service has to be paid for. Most of us working within it would like to remain free at the point of delivery. Whether that will continue depends on our willingness to pay more taxes."