Worksop doctor protests outside MP Brendan Clarke-Smith’s office as he calls for action to save NHS

Doctor Simon Taylor, who also served as an Army doctor for almost 19 years, said patients can no longer rely on the NHS for swift emergency care, and that it was quicker to get treatment in warzones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The GP from Worksop began protesting outside the office of Mr Clarke-Smith in the past week, and said he will continue until the Government responds to the current crisis.

It comes as the NHS faces its worst winter in decades, with record A&E waiting times, ambulance handover delays causing a “phenomenal amount of lost hours”, a lack of beds for new hospital patients, and GPs stretched beyond means.

Dr Taylor, who works at a practice in Gainsborough, said: “The NHS is collapsing. We can't talk about reform until we've dealt with this incident.

“It's like talking about rehabilitating a patient who has just been in a major car accident while you're still trying to get their airway open and stop the bleeding.

“We are in the middle of a major national critical incident. If we were losing the same number of personnel abroad, around 500 people a week, there would be uproar.

“But because a lot of these people are poorer or older citizens, it does not get as much attention.

“There needs to be a coordinated response and there needs to be a mobilisation of national assets.”

Dr Taylor believes the current crisis is the result of more than a decade of underinvestment in the NHS.

He added: “It's not just happened overnight and it's not just because of Covid or the flu,” he added. “The NHS was on its knees for years and now we’re face down in the mud and choking.”

In response to the protest, Mr Clarke-Smith accused the doctor of being a “Labour activist”, and said he should “put patients before politics”.

The Department of Health said it has pledged £14.1bn of additional funding for health and social care over the next two years.