Theresa May has rejected claims by the British Red Cross of a “humanitarian crisis” in the health system but acknowledged there were “huge pressures” on the NHS.
“I don’t accept the description the Red Cross has made of this,” the prime minister said.
“Yes, there are huge pressures on the NHS, but first of all we should thank all the dedicated professionals in the NHS who have been working so hard over what is always a difficult period in terms of the number of people using the NHS – the Christmas and New Year period.”
She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “Yes, there are significant pressures, but we recognise those pressures. We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need. They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required.
“So funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in.”
May added: “There are pressures in the NHS, we see those pressures. We have an ageing population, this brings pressures, particularly in the interface between the health service and social care.
“We have taken some immediate steps in relation to that issue but we are also looking to ensure best practice in the NHS and looking for a long-term solution to what has been a problem that has been ducked by government over the years.
“The NHS is facing the pressures of the ageing population, that is why it is important that it is the NHS that has produced its five-year plan and is now putting that plan into practice.”
Labour has called for May or the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to make an emergency statement on the NHS when parliament returns on Monday.
Theresa May denies "humanitarian crisis" in Britain"s NHS
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