PRINCE William has been told to "stay out of NHS politics" after the heir to the throne said NHS staff should have enforced career breaks to aid their mental health.
William made the comment while visiting the Oasis Health and Wellbeing Centre and garden, at Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) in Reading.
He attended a meeting to hear how health workers coped with the pandemic and chatted to staff who were on the frontline.
He then told a small group of NHS staff who use the facility: "Unless there's almost an enforced break in somebody's career - as part of your career development - we're never going to get to the point where we can look after their mental health."
Graham Smith, CEO of anti-monarchy group Republic, has challenged him on his intervention, questioning how the Prince is "qualified to comment on working life" and how he expects the career breaks to work.
He said the royals should stay out of politics.
"How the NHS is funded and staffed are contentious political issues. Even if this suggestion were credible, how can a politician sign up to it now William has proposed it?," said Smith.
"If the Government decided this was a good policy, would the opposition feel free to oppose it? This is why royals are expected to keep out of politics.
"William offers up simplistic solutions to complicated problems because he has no understanding of ordinary working life, or the huge pressures on NHS budgets.
"With NHS Trusts facing more cuts and staff shortages, how can they lose staff through enforced career breaks? Who will fill in for them during their absence and at what cost? And what impact would it have on staff to be told they must take a break, with all the uncertainty that entails?"
"It is particularly galling to hear this from William, when we give him a personal income of more than £23 million from the Duchy of Cornwall in return for a few weeks of work a year."
The RBH recorded the first person in the UK to die after testing positive for Covid-19, five years ago to the day on 5 March 2020.
The Prince visited the trust's centre in his role as patron of NHS Charities Together and listened as one senior nurse became emotional when he described not visiting his elderly parents in Italy for two years to protect them during the outbreak.
"Everyone in the NHS is there to care for others so the last person who gets looked after is the individual," the Prince said.
"I've seen that when I've worked with doctors, nurses, paramedics - they always put it down the line, they don't want to put their workload on to someone else - how do you go around identifying the right people?
"For me, looking into the nation's mental health, if you like, over the last few years, unless there's almost an enforced break in somebody's career - as part of your career development - we're never going to get to the point where we can look after their mental health, because you always rely on the individual to put their hand up."
Smith said the NHS needs funding and staffing that allows nurses and doctors to get the help they need with mental health, rather than "simplistic lectures from royals".
