A former head of the NHS under Labour is backing a Conservative policy to free the health service from tight government control.

Lord Crisp believes that politicians should focus on wider health issues, such as smoking, assisted dying and the ethics of stem-cell research, and leave the NHS to run itself on a day-to-day level.

The Conservatives have promised to create an independent NHS board that will report to Parliament and whose job will be to secure comprehensive health services and deliver improvements in diagnosis and treatment.

Lord Crisp, who was Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and the NHS chief executive from 2000 to 2006, said: “For the first time it [the department] and the politicians would be free to concentrate on the wider issues of health rather than on running the NHS. These wider issues are essentially political in the sense of being about the sort of society we want.

“They are about the choices we make on issues such as smoking, fluoridation of water supplies, equality of access to services, the regulation of practitioners and practices, and the ethics of stem-cell research and assisted dying. They are also about levels of investment in public and private health services, research, education, infrastructure, enterprise and business, and about international relations, trade and health security.

“For a number of years, including my own tenure there, the political emphasis on health services meant that the Department of Health was to all intents and purposes the Department of the NHS.

“The priority given to expanding and improving health services trumped almost all other considerations. I would argue - unsurprisingly, given my previous role — that this approach was right for times when the very survival of the NHS was in doubt, as it was in 2000.

“However, I now believe that, while their roles are too close for complete separation, the time is ripe for a new settlement between the department and the NHS that respects the distinct roles and capabilities of each partner.”

Sir Nigel said the credit crunch showed that there was demand for the Government to intervene in any public or private sector when “things go badly wrong”. He said: “It should be exactly the same in health, with such intervention being rare and short term, not routine and permanent.

“The department and ministers will have difficulty in distancing themselves from the NHS and growing into their new roles, but so will the NHS.

“Central power and political interest have bred dependency among professionals, managers, NHS boards and the industry. It will take time to change.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “This is a personal view from Lord Crisp. The Government has made it clear that ministers should remain directly accountable for the NHS.”

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