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Rishi Sunak has been challenged about the state of the NHS in an awkward encounter with a woman during a visit to Winchester in the south of England. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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In a clip filmed by Sky News, a member of the public urged Mr Sunak to take the NHS “back to how it used to be”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He began to walk away as she told him her daughter spent “seven hours waiting”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it showed the PM didn’t “understand what so many people are going through”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the exchange, Mr Sunak said he was “sorry to hear” about the woman’s problems and defended his government’s actions on the NHS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He said waiting lists had fallen in October and November of last year – two months when there were “virtually no strikes”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“It just shows when there aren’t strikes we really can make progress. We didn’t last year because of all the strikes.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The disgruntled woman – reported by Sky News to be a former NHS worker – replied that Mr Sunak could “stop it all”. She also pleaded with him not to relocate Winchester’s accident and emergency department to Basingstoke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Under plans announced last year, the accident and emergency department in Winchester is set to be closed, with a new acute specialist hospital, costing \u00a3900m, to be built in Basingstoke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n- The key NHS targets that have never been met<\/li>\n
- Postcode check: How’s the NHS coping in your area?<\/li>\n
- Winchester A&E to close under hospitals restructuring plan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At one point Mr Sunak laughs at a comment from the crowd and the exchange ends with the pair shaking hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mr Sunak continues his tour of Winchester, a seat the Conservatives hold, but with a tiny majority over the Lib Dems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Responding to the clip, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it “further reinforces I think what many people across the country think – that this prime minister doesn’t talk to people, doesn’t engage, doesn’t understand, what so many people are going through”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He added: “We have a terrible problem with our waiting lists and that is why we have been really clear that we would get rid of the non-dom tax status where the super-rich don’t pay their tax in this country and use that to bring down those waiting lists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“We have got a plan, we engage with people over our plan, we don’t laugh and walk away.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said: “Out of touch does not even begin to describe Rishi Sunak’s attitude to the NHS”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At the start of 2023, Mr Sunak made cutting NHS waiting lists in England one of his five key priorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n