PRIME Minister Theresa May yesterday fielded tough questions about the high-profile NHS crisis - including one relating directly to the West Cumberland Hospital.

It came as the Royal College of Physicians said the health service nationally is dealing with its worst ever winter crisis - prompting local campaigners to warn it will only escalate further next year if controversial plans to cut services and beds are pushed through.

The NHS was top of the agenda during Prime Minister's Questions, during which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tackled Mrs May on figures showing 485 people spent more than 12 hours on trolleys in hospital corridors in England last week.

He also flagged up comments by the Red Cross, which described the current situation as a "humanitarian crisis".

Mrs May hit back, saying the description was "irresponsible and overblown". She said there were always pressures on the NHS in winter but that these were increasing due to England's aging population.

Cumbrian MP John Woodcock then used the forum to flag up ongoing threats to local A&E services and maternity services, including plans to remove 24-hour obstetrics from Whitehaven and send all women who need consultant-led care to Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary.

The Barrow MP asked Mrs May: "I understand that these are decisions to be made locally but will she at least say she can understand the anxiety of expectant mothers who face a 40 mile journey on difficult roads that are often blocked if they are having a difficult birth?"

The Prime Minister replied: "I think the problems facing the health service in Cumbria are widely recognised and I do understand the concerns of local people in terms of services that will be available to them.

"We have put robust national support in place to address some of the longstanding challenges. You are right in saying decisions are being taken locally. No final decisions have been taken and I recognise the concerns he has raised, particularly about services at West Cumberland Hospital."

Earlier in the week health secretary Jeremy Hunt addressed the House of Commons about the winter pressures facing the NHS.

It followed news that the British Red Cross had called on the Government to provide more funds for health and social care as hospitals and ambulance services struggle to keep up with rising demand.

It described the current situation as a "humanitarian crisis" following the deaths of two patients after long waits on trolleys in hospital corridors.

Mr Hunt came under fire for suggesting that the four-hour waiting target in A&E should only apply to those who need it, not patients who turn up with less urgent problems. Mr Corbyn labelled the suggestion as "fiddling the figures" to hide the true scale of the crisis.

Locally activists have also expressed their concerns about the NHS, and warned it is likely to worsen in Cumbria if the Success Regime's controversial plan to cut community and acute hospital beds across the area and downgrade urgent services goes ahead.

Jane Mayes, a community hospital campaigner from Alston, said: "There is absolutely no doubt that the NHS is a non-negotiable priority for the public - it’s the bedrock of our society and it’s being spectacularly and deliberately underfunded. No one is safe, but here in Cumbria we’re about to experience dramatic and drastic cuts which make us even less safe.

"Just imagine next year’s winter crisis if the Success Regime cuts go through - women in the grip of a labour that is going wrong, people in the vital minutes after a stroke, seriously ill children experiencing a medical crisis, all desperate to get through the snow, ice and gales to the Cumberland Infirmary, where they’ll find even fewer beds than there are now.

"This is total and utter madness - or else it’s contempt for the people of north, west and east Cumbria."

Carlisle health campaigner Suzanne Kelsey said she and fellow campaigners have been warning for years that the NHS would reach this point without significant extra resources.

"We need to fully support the NHS staff both locally and nationally and fight to save our local services because if you think it is bad now it will most get a lot worse because of the lack of commitment from the health secretary, whose answer to the crisis is to ditch the four-hour waiting time.

"The answer of course is to fully fund not de-fund our NHS, and stop the costly privatisation and radical reforms that are destroying its core values and also address the crisis in social services.

"Money can always be found for other projects, why can it not be prioritised for the health and well being of very sick or elderly people. The more our citizens are neglected the more ill they become and the higher the price we pay," she said.

Mrs Kelsey added: "Over the last few days I have read and listened to first hand accounts of inadequate, untimely and inappropriate care for sick people throughout the country.

"However, what is most alarming is as well as hearing harrowing accounts from patients, it is also the exhausted clinical staff on the front line, who unable to give patients the care they deserve, are telling these woeful tales.

"They are as worried about their patients as we are about becoming ill or injured."