The NHS will need an extra £2,000 a year from every household in order to function properly, experts have said.

A joint report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Health Foundation found there was “no more room” to increase health spending by taking from other Government budgets and concludes that “taxes will have to rise”.

The new analysis of what the NHS needs to cope with future demands predicts that UK spending on healthcare will have to rise by an average 3.3 per cent a year over the next 15 years just to maintain NHS provision at current levels.

But in order to get the health service back on track from currently missed targets, to modernise and meet the needs of an ageing population, funding increases of 4 per cent a year would be required over the next 15 years.

The tax rises would likely come through hiking VAT, income tax or national insurance, Paul Johnson, director of the IFS and an author of the report, said.

The middle classes are most likely to bear the brunt of the hikes, as taxing the wealthy, who are "very mobile" will not raise enough - the money would need to come from a "broad amount of people", Mr Johnson told the Today programme on Radio 4 on Thursday.