Shameless Health Secretary Steve Barclay was heckled as he arrived at a lavish meal to congratulate the NHS - while frontline staff turn to food banks.
He was among out-of-touch Tory supporters - including former PM Theresa May and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt - attending the celebration at one of London’s most elite members’ clubs, where they toasted 75 years of the NHS.
Diners are understood to have forked out upwards of £150 per head for the exclusive bash at the Carlton Club in Mayfair, despite underpaid hospital workers struggling to make ends meet
Furious doctors, nurses and porters gathered outside the venue - popular with Tory MPs - waving placards as Mr Barclay arrived, warning the NHS is "on its knees".
Guests were heckled with cries of “shame on you” as they arrived at the dinner while passing motorists showed their support.
There were loud shouts and boos as Mrs May walked in, with large numbers of police officers keeping protesters away.
Mr Hunt, himself a former Health Secretary, turned late to the event. He smiled but declined to comment when asked by The Mirror if it was appropriate to be holding such a celebration event while NHS workers turn to food banks.
Former NHS worker Carole Vincent, 69, who confronted Tory supporters entering the club, said: “How can the Health Secretary come here today to talk about how wonderful the NHS is when staff are so demoralised?”
Dr Louise Irvine, who has worked in the NHS for 40 years, told The Mirror: "I think they have no right to be celebrating something they're dismantling, their policies have led to a point of absolute crisis. It's just not reading the room."
Nurse Mark Boothroyd added: "The NHS is falling apart due to Government policy such as underfunding and the lack of a proper pay rise - for them to be celebrating at a private members' dinner when they're refusing to resolve the issues is infuriating to staff."
He said chronic staff shortages are taking a devastating toll on medics at St Thomas' Hospital in London, where he works, with many leaving due to stress and the impact on their mental health.
"I just feel like 'how can I recommend this as a career now'?" he said.
"We can keep training more students and throwing them into the meat grinder, but it's not going to solve the issue, they're just going to quit within two or three years."
And Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab, who was among the speakers at the demonstration, told The Mirror: "Our members are having to use food banks that have been set up at their own NHS hospitals. It's insulting.
"We've got people who can't afford to eat and this lot are celebrating with a slap up meal."
He said that despite Tory "self congratulation", unions and healthcare workers are in a battle to ensure the chronically understaffed NHS reaches 100. Mr Kasab said it was shameful that Conservatives were dining while the UK was recording an alarming level of excess deaths.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) 881 more people died than normal in England and Wales in just one week last month.
"We've got these excess deaths taking place, it's insulting to every NHS worker that the Tories choose to celebrate," he stated.
Mr Kasab said the Government's flagship NHS Working Plan, launched last week, fails to address the "elephant in the room" - workers' pay.
"You can't deal with retention without dealing with pay," he said. In the coming months, he said Unite would be focusing on shortages of medics across the NHS, saying the "vast majority" of shifts are not fully staffed.
"The NHS came into existence because the people fought for it," he said. "It wasn't something that was given to working people, it was demanded and fought for. I think we're going to have to bring together that same spirit to make sure that it's still there 75 years from now."
The event was arranged by the Conservative Friends of the NHS group, which says it represents "enduring values shared between the NHS and the Conservative Party "
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Members of the NHS choir were at the protest outside as Mr Barclay and co enjoyed the expensive meal.
The protest came as the leading health think tanks said public support for the NHS is "rock solid" - but warned the service will not reach its 100th anniversary without more investment.
The King's Fund, the Health Foundation and the Nuffield Trust said the NHS has "endured a decade of underinvestment".
The Carlton Club was founded in 1832 and was the original home of the Conservative Party, and now boasts it "continues to uphold these values in its day to day activities".
