May attacks Red Cross NHS report as "irresponsible and overblown"
British prime minister Theresa May came out fighting in parliament on Wednesday during questions on the National Health Service, referring to a highly critical Red Cross report as "irresponsible and overblown".
During PMQs in the House of Commons, May was grilled by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the state of the NHS, with Corbyn referencing the recently released report.
It referred to long waiting times and a lack of space in Britain's hospitals as a "humanitarian crisis", which May reacted strongly to.
"I think we've all seen humanitarian crises around the world, and to use that description of a national health service which last year saw 2.5m more people treated in accident and emergency than six years ago, was irresponsible and overblown," May said.
Corbyn led the attacks against May and her government and its attitude towards Britain's public health system, in a frosty first encounter of 2017 between the leaders of the country's two biggest political parties.
"Our NHS, Mr Speaker, is in crisis, but the prime minister is in denial," Corbyn remarked.
On Monday, the head of the Red Cross in Britain, Mike Adamson, defended the organisation's dire description of the state of the NHS.
"We see people discharged from hospital to chaotic situations at home, falling and not being found for hours, not being washed because there is no carer to help them," Adamson said.
"These are people in crisis and in recent weeks we have started talking about this as a humanitarian crisis. We don't say this lightly and we have a duty to say it," he added.