Ray Winstone: 'Politicians say the NHS is getting better. No it's f***ing not'

Actor says he blames 'all parties' for issues within the health service

Winstone, 58, said his father’s health began slipping after a fall (Getty)

Ray Winstone has criticised politicians who claim the NHS is improving as he discussed the care received by his later father Raymond, who died aged 82.

The London-born actor described his father’s care in NHS facilities in an interview with The Independent.

Winstone, 58, said his father’s health began slipping after a fall. Raymond senior went into one NHS hospital in England where he said staff treated him well, but was later moved to another unnamed NHS hospital where Winstone claimed the doors were “locked”.

“And when I finally got in there they hadn't been moving him around, and he got septicaemia," he said. "And I seen all these programmes on the telly, politicians saying how the NHS is getting better. No it's f****** not.

"I saw three men on his ward lose legs through not being moved."

The family eventually chose to put him into a private facility “because the NHS ones didn't really have the facilities for him”.

“He needed to be moved, he needed osteopathy treatment for his limbs,” he explained.

Winstone refused to lay the blame at the feet of just the Conservative’s, instead saying he blames all of the parties for it.

“They're supposed to represent us. Yet we've got fire stations and schools closing down, not being funded right.

“We're losing nurses abroad. They're the people we're losing from our way of life, the people that actually serve our society. We're not paying them properly."

Neil Churchill Director for Patient Experience at NHS England said it was "sorry" to hear of Winstone’s negative experience. He told The Independent: “The best way to improve care is to listen to what patients and their families tell us.

“Complaints are important opportunities for learning but we know that some people are reluctant to complain and so we have introduced new ways for anyone who is not happy about the quality of their care to mention it to those caring for them, so that something can be done."

Read the interview in full here.