A charity has released a controversial Christmas advert which shows Father Christmas seriously ill in hospital.
NHS Charities Together released the emotional ad online.
It aims to raise awareness of the heartbreaking reality frontline workers have faced during the pandemic this year.
It depicts an elderly bearded man who is being rushed into hospital as doctors and nurses, who are wearing PPE, attempt to resuscitate him.
It then shows him making a recovery and is wished a Merry Christmas by a nurse.
The realisation that the elderly gentleman is in fact Father Christmas doesn't come until the end when a nurse is handed a gift by a child, the tag reading "from Santa".
But following some criticism, the NHS charity has responded in defence of its ad.
The statement read: "We created our Christmas campaign to highlight the ongoing commitment and hard work of NHS staff and volunteers to keep us safe and well in what has been and continues to be a really challenging time for the NHS.
"We are really grateful that through the support of our partners we were able to create a film to get that point across, and to encourage people to keep supporting NHS staff, patients and volunteers by generating donations to our appeal.
"When we launched the ad earlier in the week, we had an overwhelmingly positive response to it.
"Some subsequent media coverage of it has generated criticism of the ad on social media and some people have expressed their concern about it upsetting children.
"The ad has been made to engage charity supporters and those who may want to buy products that generate donations to the appeal.
"It isn't aimed at children and hasn’t been shown on TV. The charity did not put any funds into the production of the ad.
"We worked closely with the team behind the ad to make sure it was produced responsibly and it was cleared for use by the relevant regulatory authority.
"However, we are sorry to the parents of any young children who have been upset by watching the ad and to the young children themselves, they were not the intended audience for it."
