WATCH: Rishi Sunak Grilled By Ex-Healthcare Worker On NHS Crisis

An off-duty Sky News cameraperson captured Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s awkward confrontation with a former NHS worker Friday, who challenged him over the state of the health service and the looming closure of the local A&E department.

During his visit to Winchester, Sunak was stopped in his tracks by an ex-health worker who asked him about the ongoing strikes and the deteriorating state of the NHS.

The camera starts rolling as Sunak approaches the woman to blame NHS dysfunction on striking medical staff, claiming that waiting time for treatment fell in the months last year where there were no strikes. He went on to claim all NHS strikes were resolved, except for the junior doctors’ dispute.

“It goes to show,” he said. “That when there aren’t strikes, we really can make progress.”

“You could stop it all. You could make it all go back to how it used to be, where if you had a problem you could go to the hospital,” she asked.

Sunak laughed awkwardly, looking at his advisors.

As the woman explained to the prime minister about her daughter’s seven-hour wait at A&E, an advisor indicated to Sunak that it was time to leave. He abruptly turned and left the woman mid-sentence.

The extended clip shows that the woman caught up with Sunak, who repeated his line and shook her hand.

As he walked away, the woman said: “Please don’t send the A&E to Basingstoke.”

Sunak’s Winchester visit has been overshadowed by the run-in, which also included a trip to Silverlake Stadium in Eastleigh where he talked about future tax cuts.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, upon seeing the footage, commented: “The prime minister doesn’t understand what people are going through. We engage with our plan – we don’t laugh and walk away.”