The pensioner who challenged over the state of waiting lists formerly worked for the , it has been revealed. 

The Prime Minister was told 'you could stop it all', by the ex-NHS worker on a walkabout in Winchester as she quizzed him about lengthy wait times for treatment.

In an exchange caught on camera by , Mr Sunak blamed the backlog on strikes by medical staff before laughing as she said: 'You could make it all go back to how it used to be ... where, if you had a problem, you could go to the hospital.'

As she continued, saying 'my daughter spent seven hours waiting', he was pulled away by Winchester candidate Flick Drummond to continue his walkabout in the

Hampshire seat that is on the  target list at the next election.

She then followed him down the street and he said he was 'sorry to hear that'  before they discussed the strikes again before shaking hands.

As the exchange went viral online it was dubbed his 'Gordon Brown moment' - a reference to the former prime minister being caught calling Gillian Duffy a 'bigoted woman' while attached to a microphone before the 2010 election.

The Prime Minister was told 'you could stop it all', by a former health worker on a walkabout in Winchester as she quizzed him about lengthy wait times for treatment

In an exchange caught on camera by Sky News, Mr Sunak blamed the backlog on strikes by medical staff before laughing as she said: 'You could make it all go back to how it used to be... where, if you had a problem, you could go to the hospital'

As the exchange went viral online it was dubbed his 'Gordon Brown moment' - a reference to the former prime minister being caught calling Gillian Duffy a 'bigoted woman' while attached to a microphone before the 2010 election

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said: 'Laughing in the face of a former health worker whilst they are trying to explain to him the dire straits the NHS is in is frankly shocking.

'The Prime Minister either does not care or he does not get it.'

And Wes Streeting, Labour's shadow health secretary, added; 'Rishi Sunak has no idea of the misery NHS patients are going through.

'When patients try to tell him, he laughs in their faces and walks away. When Sunak asks for their vote later this year, he will get a taste of his own medicine.'

Some 6.39million patients across England were waiting for routine hospital treatment in November, figures suggest, which is down slightly from 6.

44million in October.

But the NHS is still failing to hit most of its key performance targets despite the overall drop, the data indicates.

Some 11,168 people in England were waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of November, up from 10,506 at the end of October.

A&E times also worsened, with 69.4 per cent of patients in England seen within four hours in December, down from 69.7 per cent in November and against a target set for March this year of 76 per cent.

Mr Sunak blamed striking doctors for the backlog, telling the woman that the recent dip in the number of people waiting 'just shows that when there aren't strikes, we really can make progress.

'

The Prime Minister last year made cutting waiting lists one of the five key priorities of his leadership.

However, data analysed by the PA news agency suggests that despite recent decreases in waiting lists, it is still higher than when the pledge was made.

Waiting lists stood at 7.21million treatments waiting to be carried out in January last year.

As of November - a month with no industrial action - some 7.61million treatments were waiting to be carried out.

The NHS is likely to be a key political battleground in the blue wall - traditionally Tory seats in southern England which are vulnerable to gains from either the Liberal Democrats or Labour - during an election year.