The National Health Service has to attract a substantial increase in funds if it is going to achieve the standards of care everyone wants, said David Livermore, who has just retired as chairman of Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust.

"I believe in a mix of government funding and private insurance as the most likely means of funding a fair service for everyone."

Mr Livermore (62) thinks the NHS suffers from a lack of objective criticism at present.

"There are fundamental questions to be asked," he said. "Despite the increase in money we have had from the Government, this is in no way adequate to meet the standards the prime minister wants. Waiting lists are still far too long. We need twice as many doctors to come up to the standards of France and Germany, which is the stated government policy.The total bill to upgrade all the facilities in the service is upwards of £20bn. That's a phenomenal amount of money."

Mr Livermore came to the health service from a business background. He had been national sales director for IBM and then was managing director for motoring services at the RAC.

The two trust achievements he is proudest of as chairman are the success of the scanner appeal, which raised £2m for what he described as "one of the best facilities in Hampshire" and that the trust was the first in the country to dispense digital hearing aids.

Mr Livermore, who is chairman of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, was convinced that if the aids were bought in large quantities, the price would come down. He enlisted the help of Graham Winyard, deputy executive director of the NHS Board and James Strachan, RNID chief executive, who personally negotiated to get the price of a digital aid down from £1,500 to £70.

There are some regrets and topping the list is that word money again.

"We are still the lowest-funded trust in the country. Due to a national funding formula, we in this part of Hampshire are given only 83% of the national per capita funding, whereas some inner-city areas receive over 130%. Now I am totally in favour of a differential, but 83% is a bridge too far. If we had just 3% more, we would not have a problem."

The retiring chairman is also sad that the trust, has now been split up and there are now also mental health trusts and primary care trusts.

"I believe the health service is unquestionably at its best when it works together and not when you have different organisations competing for the same resources."

Mr Livermore said the trust hoped, in the future, to build a new diagnostic treatment centre, a one-stop shop where patients can come and have a complete diagnosis and, where necessary, full treatment the same day.

He said, multi-disciplinary teams would be developed at RHCH, with nurses taking on more responsibility.This would release the doctors for more critical cases.

Mr Livermore spoke highly of the executive team he worked with and the excellent doctors and nurses. "I have loved every minute of my time at the trust and it was a privilege to be its chairman," he said.