Addressing delegates at the HR Forum aboard the cruise liner Aurora last month, Littlewood said: "I am not surprised staff in the NHS are demotivated.
"The model for providing healthcare in this country is failing. Compared to other systems in developed countries, it lags behind in terms of mortality rates, cancer survival rates, stroke outcomes and heart disease.
"Sticking with the status quo is not an option; but neither is tweaking a fundamentally flawed model. The idea that the NHS is delivering a decent level of healthcare is misguided."
Commenting on the pressures on NHS staff, he added: "So far, overhauls in the NHS have not tackled the problems, but they have put burdens on staff to keep making changes." He argued that the Healthcare Act was only "baby steps at best" towards reform, but said the US system of health insurance was not the right one for the UK.
Instead, he advocated a system similar to that in Singapore, where individuals save for healthcare - like pensions - and the government could top up lower earners and children.
This means that people would be able to chose the healthcare they need and could afford, as and when they need it.
Littlewood said the system in Singapore costs half as much per individual as the UK's healthcare cost and is as effective.
But he added: "The NHS is like a religion in the UK. It does have high levels of patient satisfaction, but there is a genuine dilemma around how to decide if the NHS is a triumph or a myth - so much so it's impossible to effectively carry out opinion polls on it.
"Only when patients are treated as customers, and competing healthcare businesses can vie for their custom, will we see standards rise, waiting times fall and healthcare improve."
