Robin Walker to meet with Jeremy Hunt over Worcestershire Royal Hospital corridor deaths

Mike Adamson, the British Red Cross charity's chief executive, stood by his description of a "humanitarian crisis" gripping the NHS.

The Prime Minister Theresa May rejected the suggestion while Worcester's MP Robin Walker, who was due to meet with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt this evening for urgent discussions, has said the term would be better applied to Syria than Worcester.

However, Peter Pinfield, the chairman of Worcestershire's Healthwatch, said it was important to listen to a nationally and internationally renowned organisation like the British Red Cross.

Meanwhile, Labour has called for a £700 million emergency cash injection to ease the winter crisis.

As previously reported one patient died from a cardiac arrest after 35 hours waiting in a corridor at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Another, who had an aneurysm, was taken into the resuscitation area but died.

A third death, reported to have been someone hanging themselves on a ward, also happened elsewhere in the hospital. The three deaths took place between New Year’s Day and Tuesday, January 3.

Mr Walker said: "There has already been some extra support put in place in terms of consultant cover and the opening of another medical ward to ease the pressure on waiting times.

"My key point is there is a desperate need for capacity over the long term as well as the short term.

"This last couple of weeks exemplifies that we're seeing a strong rise in demand from elderly patients and there is a need for more capacity."

However, he stressed that there are now more doctors and nurses at the hospital than there were four or five years ago but there was a need for more.

Although he said his constituents 'almost universally praised staff' he said they also felt they had been kept waiting too long and that there was a real concern that these waits were becoming dangerous.

Mr Walker added: "I do think the words 'humanitarian crisis' when you look at Syria are probably unnecessarily strong. The key thing is that this is a priority for me. The hospital has seen unprecedented levels of demand."

Mike Adamson, the charity's chief executive, said the phrase was justified by the scale of the "threat" posed to the nation's health and wellbeing by pressures on the system.

His renewed warning comes as the head of an influential think tank said the NHS was "buckling under the strain of trying to meet rising demand and still maintain standards".

Mr Adamson said underfunding of social care and a "plethora" of systemic failures were contributing to a crisis that the charity has a duty to expose.

Mr Adamson referred to recent deaths at Worcestershire Royal Hospital as extreme examples, but warned patients were suffering "prolonged physical and mental distress" on a broad scale.

The Red Cross came under fire for describing the situation facing the NHS as a "humanitarian crisis" as it was revealed on Friday that A&E departments shut their doors to patients more than 140 times in December.

On Sunday Theresa May said she did not accept the Red Cross's description, but admitted there are "huge pressures" facing the NHS.

Mr Adamson said more funding was needed to boost social care to alleviate some of the pressures facing hospitals, including ensuring the elderly can be safely returned home after treatment.

Peter Pinfield, chairman of Worcestershire Healthwatch, said: "It's okay senior politicians saying it's not serious but people on the ground, people working day in and day out, would disagree with that."

He said the sooner the £29 million planned capital investment for Worcestershire hospitals was made available the better.

As previously reported bosses are asking for the NHS England cash to expand car parking at Worcestershire Royal and increase the number of beds at the Aconbury East section of the site, as well as revamp operating theatres at the Alex for pre-planned surgery and make the other big vital changes.