Patients battling life-threatening cancer told Health Secretary Wes Streeting to do everything he could to 'safeguard the NHS ' and 'we are depending on you' as he toured Northfield's celebrated Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.

The health chief - in the spotlight this week amid disputed claims he intends to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer's leadership - took time out from the heat of the Westminster cauldron to visit the world class specialist hospital, one of Birmingham's oft overlooked health gems.

Patient Andrew Foster, 63, told him in no uncertain terms that it was his duty to safeguard the NHS and protect hospitals like the ROH. "If I hadn't got here, to these specialists, I'd be dead by now," said Andrew, who has a complex bone tumour.

"We are depending on you," he told Mr St

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