IN the same week the British Red Cross warned of a “humanitarian crisis” in the NHS – a man from Stroud has spoken out over his poor experience with under-pressure healthcare services.

Andrew Fisk of Dudbridge Meadow claims overworked and under-resourced GPs at a clinic at Stroud General Hospital contributed to a doctor accidently prescribing him the wrong medicine for a respiratory illness.

The 42-year-old said he was suddenly left unable to breathe or walk properly after taking the steroid medication and that had he not returned to hospital to switch to antibiotics, he could have been left in a critical condition or even worse.

He believes pressure on staff at Choice+ – a clinic at the community hospital ruin by GPs – over the busy winter period had most likely contributed to the misdiagnosis.

Mr Fisk said he agreed with the Red Cross that there was a real “crisis” and that the NHS was in desperate need of more funding from the government.

“I don't blame the GPs. They are under incredible pressure and I have huge respect for them,” he told the SNJ.

“The queues at the hospital clinic were long and the staff were struggling to cope. I think this pressure and time constraints on the doctors was one of the reasons this happened.

“If you put doctors and nurses under even more pressure, then of course accidents are going to happen more often. Doctors don't have the resources. Mistakes happen. But lives are being lost. I am lucky mine wasn't one of them.”

He continued: “Just before New Year I received treatment for an illness at Stroud General. I had been suffering from a winter respiratory illness for some weeks. I was given treatment for this condition. Except I wasn't.

“After just two days of a two week treatment I could barely climb stairs or even breathe, so I stopped using the medication.

“I believe if I had continued I would at best have been in a critical condition in hospital. If not worse. A few days later I got the antibiotics I needed and I am not almost fully recovered. I think it was a simple mistake by one of the doctors.

“I was lucky. But that can’t be said for other people that have died because of understaffed and under resourced hospitals. Doctors work extremely hard and just trying to do the best with the funding they have available.”

A Choice+ spokeswoman confirmed that Mr Fisk had attended a clinic in Stroud, but was not able to discuss specifics of his consultation due to patient confidentiality.

“We work hard to provide a high quality service for our patients and I would invite Mr Fisk to contact us. We would be more than happy to talk to him and discuss his concerns,” she said.

Choice+ operate clinics at Stroud General Hospital seven days a week.

Mr Fisk continued: “So Mr Hunt, how many lives is an acceptable price to pay for government policy?

“How much is mine worth? I wouldn't mind knowing. I just feel for the families of the people who did die in the last few weeks.

“Enough is enough. The NHS needs more money. £28 Billion in fact, right now. Not the paltry sum it is getting.”

Mr Fisk’s experiences come after The British Red Cross warned that the NHS is facing a “humanitarian crisis” this winter as hospitals and ambulance services struggle to keep up with rising demand.

It follows the deaths of two patients after long waits on trolleys in hospital corridors.

Earlier this week the charity said it had seen a "significant change" in demand for its help, driven by inadequate funding for social care and a "plethora" of other failures across the system.

But the Government has denied that there was any crisis within the health service, insisting that the difficulties were similar to those experienced every year.

Prime Minister Theresa May rejected the notion, saying: “I don't accept the description the Red Cross has made of this".

"There are pressures in the NHS, we see those pressures. We have an ageing population, this brings pressures, particularly in the interface between the health service and social care,” she said.

"We have taken some immediate steps in relation to that issue but we are also looking to ensure best practice in the NHS and looking for a long-term solution to what has been a problem that has been ducked by government over the years."

At PMQs on Wednesday she then called the comments by the Red Cross "irresponsible and overblown" and insisted that the Government had committed extra money to the NHS.

Over the weekend one of NHS England’s specialist directors said he thought the service was not “at that point” of crisis, but admitted demand was higher than ever.

The health secretary Jeremy Hunt has also moved to address the claims, arguing that most hospitals are coping better this winter than they did last year.

Mike Adamson, the Red Cross’ chief executive, responded by saying the phrase was justified by the scale of the “threat” posed to the nation's health and wellbeing by pressures on the system.

Jeremy Corbyn also accused Mrs May of being in "denial" over the state of the healthcare system.