LONDON: Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have clashed over the NHS, with the Prime Minister urged to save the health service “from death by a thousand cuts.”

In an exchange dominated by the NHS, the Labour leader also alluded to reports that Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, had demanded an extra £5bn for the NHS at a meeting of the cabinet earlier this week.

Corbyn said the Prime Minister should “face up to the reality” of the problems in the health service, but May shot back: “There is only one part of the NHS that has seen a cut in its funding - it’s the NHS in Wales under a Labour government.

“This is a government that is backing the NHS plan, that is putting more money into the NHS, that is recruiting more doctors and nurses, that is seeing new treatments come on board which ensure people are getting the best treatment,” she added.

The Labour leader also used the weekly session to cite concerning reports in the NHS in recent weeks. “It’s been reported that a man froze to death waiting 16 hours for an ambulance,” he told MPs gathered in the Commons.

He added: “Last week a young gentleman called Chris wrote to me saying ‘my friend’s 93-year-old father waiting four hours for an ambulance after a fall’.”

Corbyn said the NHS is being “starved of resources” and people are “dying unnecessarily in the back of ambulances and in hospital corridors.”

“GP numbers are down, nurses are leaving, the NHS is in crisis,” he said. “Tory MPs might not like it, but I ask this question of the Prime Minister - when is she going to face up to the reality and take action to save the NHS from death by a thousand cuts?”

Asked by Corbyn whether she agreed with the foreign secretary that the NHS needed an extra £5bn a year, May dodged the question by saying the budget had given it £6 billion more.

Corbyn then referenced May’s claim about the health service being well-prepared for winter, noting a letter from senior A&E doctors to her expressing “very serious concerns” about patient safety. He asked: “Who should the public believe - the prime minister or A&E doctors?”

May responded: “It is right that the NHS was better prepared this winter than it ever has been before,” citing statistics on extra beds, and saying 2.8 million more people were going to A&E a year than in 2010.