THE troubled NHS shake-up hit a fresh crisis yesterday, when the legislation was delayed again for up to six months – as Nick Clegg vowed not to allow a “dog-eat-dog market”.

The Deputy Prime Minister announced that the Health and Social Care Bill would be slammed into reverse, to allow line-by line scrutiny of looming “big changes” by a committee of MPs.

The step is thought to be the first time a Government Bill has been sent back to a standing committee since 1951, when Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister.

As he answered questions about health reform, Mr Clegg said: “It’s very important that MPs, who are accountable to millions of patients up and down the country, really have the opportunity to look at the details of what we are proposing.

“I think that’s why we will need to send the Bill back to committee.

“I have always said that it is best to take our time to get it right, rather than move too fast and risk getting the details wrong.”

But the Department of Health said no decision would be taken on the future of the Bill until after its “listening exercise” was concluded, at the end of next week.

Last night, Grahame Morris, the Easington MP, who sat on the first Health Bill committee, welcomed the rethink, but called for Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to quit.

He said: “He is like a broken arrow – he doesn’t work and can’t be fired.

“Mr Lansley should do the decent thing and resign.”

Mr Morris also warned of further uncertainty for about 4,000 NHS staff across the region, who work for strategic health authorities and primary care trusts.

They are due to disappear by 2012 and 2013 respectively – as £60bn of work “commissioning”

care is transferred to groups of GPs – but that timetable is now up in the air.

Mr Morris said: “Some of those staff have already left, because they didn’t expect their organisations to survive.

I feel very sorry for them. The Government has destabilised the system.”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Tom Blenkinsop, who also sat on the committee, said David Cameron and Mr Clegg shared the blame for the chaos, adding: “They cleared these reforms back in January.”