HUNDREDS of health workers from across the country rallied outside Parliament today to tell PM Sir Keir Starmer to stop cutting the NHS.

Striking staff were joined by union leaders and left MPs in Westminster at the demonstration calling out Labour for policies which were “putting the NHS on the road to austerity mark two.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham told the crowd: “The general election was almost two years ago. Labour stood on doorsteps and told Britain that they would get the NHS back on its feet.

“So why are we standing here today, facing cuts in our NHS.

“Unpaid overtime… and burnt-out staff, and retention at rock bottom… Labour, where are you?”

Calling on the government to consider implementing a wealth tax, she said: “They’re telling us they’re gonna freeze recruitment. That cannot be the answer. That is the road to decline.”

Ms Graham described the NHS as “woefully underfunded, with undervalued staff caught in a merry go round of cuts and increased workloads.”

Gemma Emmanuel, who works as a health visitor at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University health board in Wales, joined the demonstration with her comrades on week nine of their strike in a dispute with management over pay and banding.

Many health visitors have a job description which falls in the seven band but are only being paid a salary matching the sixth band.

Ms Emmanuel explained that the local health board moved health visitors into a higher job description band, without raising salaries accordingly.

“Our job description has been rewritten to now reflect the roles and responsibilities that we have,” she said, adding that health visitors were losing out on approximately “£8,000 to £9,000 a year.”

Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan was also at the protest calling on ministers to “to recognise that the NHS is probably the best symbol of a progressive society.”

He said: “It’s all very well, hearing ministers stand at the dispatch box and say things are getting better in the NHS.

“But if your constituents are still writing to you, telling you that they’ve had to wait months for an appointment, it doesn’t feel like things are getting better.”

Labour MP Rachael Maskell told the Star: “It’s very important health workers are recognised as stresses and strains they’ve picked up over the years. They are the backbone of our NHS.”