The Health Secretary has been blasted at a child’s hospital bed by a mum who told him she was "scared" for her daughter's future.
Tory Steve Barclay was confronted over how NHS staff are being "worked to the bone" by Sarah Pinnington-Auld, whose three-year-old daughter Lucy has cystic fibrosis,
She told the bully boy Cabinet minister - who refuses to reopen talks with nurses on pay - “the damage you’re doing to families like myself is terrible."
She added: “I know you look and we’re all numbers but actually we’re people waiting for care.”
In a heartbreaking admission, Ms Pinnington-Auld told him: "I'm so scared about my daughter's future, thinking about what you guys might do to the NHS and what that means in exact terms for the length of her life.
"If you don’t prioritise the NHS I don’t know what chance she has at a longer life."
Mr Barclay - who is facing nurses' strikes tomorrow and a paramedics' walkout on Wednesday - was confronted by the desperate mum on a visit to King's College Hospital in London.
He told her “I spend all of my time” trying to solve issues in the NHS.
But Ms Pinnington-Auld told him staff are no longer able to provide the care patients deserve.
She said her daughter should have been in hspital last Monday for a bronchoscopy but “she was pushed off the list” and “there were no beds” due to the “horrific” and “obscene” pressure on the NHS. It was then rearranged a few days' later.
“It was agony for us as a family, waiting for that call and preparing our children for their sister and her hospital visit - for it then to be cancelled," she said.
She told the Cabinet minister: “Her care here has been absolutely amazing.
“The doctors, the nurses, everyone on the ward is just brilliant, considering what they're under, considering the shortages of staff, considering the lack of resources.
“And I think for me, that's what's really upsetting actually.
“Because we have a daughter with a life-limiting, a life-shortening condition. And we have some brilliant experts. And they are being worked to the bone.
“The level of care they provide is amazing, but they're not being able to provide it in the way they want to provide it because the resourcing is not there.”
Later she told the PA news agency: "I wanted to make it clear that the NHS staff are absolutely amazing.
"They're so hard-working and incredible and are doing an absolutely brilliant job under such intense pressures as underfunding and understaffing."
She also told Mr Barclay: “We are moving towards a privatised system like in America where the disparity in the health service between the rich and poor is vast.”
Downing Street said that the public should be "reassured" that the Government will fund the NHS to tackle backlogs.
Asked about Ms Pinnington-Auld's comments, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "The Government has recognised that the backlogs caused by the Covid pandemic are unacceptable.
"It is why we have invested such a huge amount of money to start bringing them down, with early signs of success by eliminating two-year waits and we're now pushing on, focusing on 18-month waits.
"Whilst this happens, we know the public will be concerned. But they should be reassured that the Government will continue to give the NHS the funding it needs to deal with these Covid backlogs and put the NHS back on track."
Nurses, paramedics, Border Force, driving examiners and DWP staff are all downing tools before Christmas Day, not to mention the railways.
And more dates are to follow - a firefighters’ ballot comes back next month, and many civil servant members of the PCS are still working out when they’ll stage industrial action
The government have been accused of risking lives by failing to avert the NHS strikes this week - with Health Secretary Steve Barclay still refusing to hold talks on nurses' pay.
Visiting a hospital this morning, Mr Barclay demanded unions “make good on their statements that they will protect those with life-threatening conditions and emergency responses” on Wednesday.
He warned: “That’s what they’ve said publicly, but if for example they only allow staff to respond from the picket line, that will add further delay to the response times which is not in the patients’ interest.”
The Health Secretary said his door was open but refused to reopen talks on pay.
He refused to say if any of his Cabinet colleagues are privately calling for higher pay for nurses.
He told the public “if there’s a need to call an ambulance” people should continue to do so - but warned “there will be impacts on patients”.
But Unite leader Sharon Graham warned Steve Barclay will "have to carry the can if patients suffer" and unions will not "blink first" to break the deadlock. "It's Steve Barclay who is holding the country to ransom," she told The Mirror.
Rishi Sunak said “our door is always open” but warned “these things are difficult” on pay.
