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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Tom Davidson

Doctor's inspiring defence of NHS as he slams lack of funding on morning commute

A doctor in the NHS urged his fellow commuters to vote in next month's general election in a passionate rush-hour speech.

Jack Milln told those on the London Overground train that they should consider the NHS and climate change when they go to the polls next month.

While not mentioning the Conservative Party by name he pointedly said 'they are not putting enough money in to keep up with demand'.

Dr Milln - an endocrinologist - describes himself as a 'climate activist' on Twitter and says that the planet is in the middle of the 'sixth mass extinction'.

In footage posted on social media a fellow commuter filmed an excerpt from his passionate speech.

Jack Milln speaking to commuters about the NHS and climate change (lucyfyson /Twitter)

He said: "I urge you to think about two issues, while I think you'll agree they're important but they're close to my heart as well.

"First is the NHS, I've been a doctor working in the NHS for 10 years now and I've watched it degrade over the time since I graduated from chronic under-funding

"They say they're putting more money in but it doesn't keep up with demand.

"So when I'm seeing your mum or your dad in the corridor because there's no bed and I'm having to apologise because they're not getting the service when they're having a heart attack.

The video has been widely shared online (lucyfyson /Twitter)

"The hospitals were already full in August, I don't know what's going to happen this winter.

"The second of course is the climate crisis, we're out of the time of projections and wondering whether it's happening, we're watching it happen now.

"We're in the sixth mass extinction of this planet, it's not projections we're counting species goes extinct so think about a party that puts the climate crisis at the absolute heart of its policies, we cannot go on in the way that we are."

Dr Milln has promoted DoctorsXR on Twitter, a campaign group of "a group of doctors in support of Extinction Rebellion's key demands".

The doctor said on Twitter that he deliberately did not mention any particular party.

Jack Milln told those on the London Overground train that they should consider the NHS and climate change (lucyfyson /Twitter)

He wrote: "Today (12th Nov) I stood up & spoke for 5 mins on a busy commuter train in London urging people to vote on the (NHS)& (climate) instead of Brexit .

"Didn't mention any political party. Lovely response and got chatting. Will do each day until election".

This morning it emerged that the NHS is heading for one of its "bleakest" ever winters and 100,000 people could end up stuck on trolleys waiting for hospital beds, according to experts.

New figures from NHS England show that A&E performance is at its worst-ever level while the health service has also missed a raft of other targets, including how long people wait to start planned treatment and waits for cancer care.

The data comes as the Royal College of Surgeons called on political leaders to keep the 18-week wait for planned treatment - which is currently under review and could be scrapped.

The future of the NHS is set to be a key subject in the election (REUTERS)

The new NHS data shows that one in six patients waited longer than four hours in A&E in England during October - the worst-ever performance since the four-hour target was introduced in 2004.

The NHS is one of the key battlegrounds between Labour and the Tories with both sides pledging extra funding.

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