A woman whose mother died in a hospital under Labour has told Ed Miliband that she find it ‘physically repulsive’ when he claims to lead the party of the NHS.

During a live radio phone-in, the woman challenged the Labour leader over the ‘totally avoidable’ and ‘horrific’ death.

The woman, who was identified as Claire from Manchester, said that there was a ‘total denial’ from the party about what went wrong in her mother’s case.

Ed Miliband was taken to task live on LBC tonight by a woman whose mother had died under the Labour-run NHS

She said that her local Labour candidate had put the phone down on her when she rang him to speak about the treatment her mother received.

The exchange is one of the first unscripted moments of the election campaign, which has been tightly-controlled and stage-managed with the party leaders meeting very few regular voters.

As the Labour leader took part in a half-hour phone in on LBC radio, he was tackled by the woman on the party’s record on the NHS while in power.

She asked him: ‘My mother died in an NHS hospital under Labour’s watch, how can Labour claim to be a party of the NHS?’

Mr Miliband responded: ‘First of all Claire I’m incredibly sorry to hear what happened to your mum and when anything goes wrong in our NHS I think it needs to be properly investigated and properly dealt with.

‘I know that won’t bring your mum back, but I’m incredibly sorry for what happened.

‘I think the NHS is a fantastic institution, I think overall we’ve made progress in our NHS, but obviously that can never excuse any case that goes wrong.’

But the woman added: ‘I think it was systemic, I don't think it was one or any case. There was inaccuracy, denial, lack of transparency, that's my personal experience watching her die in agony.

‘That's irrespective of all the other scandals that have come out, like the Staffs Hospital.

‘I actually find it physically repulsive when I get documentation coming through my front door about Labour being the party of the NHS.

‘She suffered totally avoidable, terrible, agonising suffering. Labour had been in for the best part of 13 years when she died.

'Totally inadequate weekend staffing, routine operations prioritised over emergency operations, a total denial of inadequacy.

‘Staff totally in fear and unable to whistleblow. Totally poor co-ordination of resources.'

The woman said that she was angry about the way Labour had claimed to have had a good record of running the NHS.

She added: ‘One conversation I heard on the radio when a Labour spokesman said something about “oh we had record levels of patient satisfaction and family satisfaction during our time”.

‘Well I only wish I could have been given one of these so-called surveys because her death was horrific and I have to live with that every day and you’ve not answered my question.’

'Claire' from Manchester said she found it 'physically repulsive' when Labour leaflets were delivered to her claiming that they were the party of the NHS

During a live radio phone-in, a woman challenged the Labour leader over the ‘totally avoidable’ and ‘horrific’ death of her mother

Mr Miliband replied: ‘Well we’ve got a plan for the NHS, Claire, but that’s not going to help you and I know that’s not going to satisfy you.

‘But one question I suppose I have got for you is, it sounds like an appalling event has happened, was there a system in place to at least to get some kind of ability for you to find out what happened, why it went wrong, lessons to be learnt?

‘I think if anything goes wrong in our NHS, as has obviously happened in your mother’s case, I think the best thing I can say is there have got to be systems where we understand why it went wrong and what we can do to put it right and prevent it happening in the future.’

The woman added that she was frustrated by Labour's refusal to take the blame. She said: ‘One of the hardest things for me has been the total denial of Labour about what went wrong.

‘I've spoken to my prospective parliamentary Labour candidate and he put the phone down on me because he obviously couldn't answer the question, he just didn't know what to say.’

Mr Miliband said, ‘Well, I won't put the phone down on you Claire,’ and offered to speak to her in the next few days to find out the exact details of the case.

Mr Miliband was also given a hard time by a group of youngsters on Radio 1's 'Live Lounge' show this afternoon

But she continued: ‘Why were those circumstances allowed to happen? You pride yourself on being the party of the NHS through the ages.

‘Why during 13 years did you let the NHS descend to such a level?’

Mr Miliband said: ‘Overall Claire and I know this doesn’t help you or your mum’s case, I think by common consent the NHS improved, but that doesn’t excuse anything.’

‘So look as I say I’m very very happy to hear from you directly about what went wrong. It cannot bring your mum back but it can at least me I as a prospective prime minister understand why it went wrong and what lessons can be learned.'

A spokesman for the Conservatives said: ‘Labour present themselves as the party of the Health Service – but really we know they’ve said they want to “weaponise” the NHS for votes.

‘By peddling discredited myths about ‘privatisation’ that independent experts say isn’t happening, they miss what’s most important in our health service – securing the highest standards of care.

‘Under this Government, more patients are being treated with dignity and respect than ever as we learn the lessons of Mid Staffs, which went on unchecked for four years on Labour’s watch.’

Andrew Percy, a Tory member of the Commons health select committee, said: ‘A lot of people are disgusted by Labour’s weaponising of the NHS and their self-righteous belief that they and they alone speak for the NHS and NHS patients. They don’t.

‘Their own record – especially in Wales in recent years – has been abominable. Rather than trying to use the NHS for political gain, they should be apologising for some of the failings on their watch.’

Earlier this year, Labour was accused of trying to ‘weaponise’ the NHS after Nick Robinson said Ed Miliband had used the word at a meeting with BBC executives.

The exchange on LBC is one of the first unscripted confrontations between politicians and voters of the election campaign. It comes after David Cameron - pictured campaigning in Frinton on Sea today - accused Mr Miliband of using the NHS like a political football

David Cameron said his use of the word was ‘disgusting’ and accused him of treating the NHS like a ‘political football’.

The radio clash is a bad end to Labour’s NHS week, which Mr Miliband’s aides hoped would see the issue of the Health Service dominate the election campaign.

Labour see the Health Service as one of their most electoral assets, and often claim to be the ‘party of the NHS’ because it was set up in 1948 under Clement Attlee’s Labour government.

Nick Clegg - who was campaigning in Sheffield today - has criticised Labour's attacks on the Coalition's NHS reforms

But the claim began to be called into question under the last Labour government following a series of scandals including the appalling neglect at Mid Staffordshire.

There were up to 1,200 more deaths than would be expected in the A&E department over a three-year period.

The scandal, which saw patients forced to drink out of vases on understaffed wards, was blamed largely on Labour’s bullying target culture – with managers more interested in meeting financial targets than ensuring decent care.

The Tories say that Labour fostered a culture of cover-up across the Health Service which means mistakes and poor care were never properly dealt with.

The party was accused of not doing enough to tackle the lack of dignity suffered by the elderly on NHS wards, with many forced to endure care on mixed-sex wards.

During their time in office between 1997 and 2010, Labour wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers money on costly PFI deals with private companies to build hospitals and treatment centres.

They were accused of employing too many bureaucrats, and of giving GPs a massive pay rise despite allowing them to opt out of responsibility for patients out of hours.

This contributed to the inability of millions to get decent care at evenings at weekends – forcing many to turn up at overstretched A&E departments.

Although there had been some improvements, survival rates for many types of cancer were at Eastern European levels when they left office in 2010. Many people were denied life-saving cancer drugs by penny-pinching organisations.

Labour has remained in charge of the NHS in Wales since then, thanks to devolution. Waiting times are longer than in England, and access to cancer drugs is so bad that some patients have been forced to move to England.