Jeremy Hunt has been diagnosed with a case of severe “bullshit” after his claims about NHS improvement under the Tories were given a second opinion by an unlikely source – Dr Who star Ralf Little.

The actor took it upon himself to disprove Hunt in a truly epic Twitter thread and has also challenged the Health Secretary to a TV debate over the future of the NHS.

It comes after the pair clashed over the Tory MP’s claim on the Andrew Marr show last month that he is leading the “biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe”.

Little accused Hunt of lying to the public:

— Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) October 29, 2017

A week later, Hunt replied to Little with some statistics supposedly backing up his claim:

4,300 more employed by mental health trusts, 2,700 more employed in talking therapies, 1400 more people treated every day since 2010. Isn’t it ur job 2 find a major European country that’s done better and faster rather than make assertions you can’t support? I double dare you — Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) November 8, 2017

Now Little has run some tests on those figures and revealed the results – they don’t look good for the Health Secretary…

So if statistics and facts aren’t your thing and you only follow me for the silly jokes – look away now. But if you care about accountability and the NHS, read and RT this THREAD written in reply to @Jeremy_Hunt 👇👇👇 — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(1) Firstly @Jeremy_Hunt, if you think that’s my job you seriously overestimate the responsibilities of actors. However, in response… pic.twitter.com/9ATdnAKN92 — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(2) You said to find a European country that’s “done better” & “faster” than your quoted statistics. But firstly, are those stats legitimate? — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(3) REPOST with correct link… FactCheck already proved you lied about mental health worker numbers, which you had to admit to… https://t.co/H2pqAXunoF — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(4) So before I start with my task at hand, let’s examine your latest stats more carefully.

“4,300 more employed by mental health trusts” — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(5) Impressive sounding, but “employed” is a broad term…

In terms of “employed” DOCTORS and NURSES; fact checkers https://t.co/nmpgO1D2fa disagree: we in fact have much FEWER of them, as described here…https://t.co/u4BNEtgvrJ — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(6) Also according to https://t.co/L9LHiYfJm0 we have 14% fewer mental health nurses than we did in 2010.

In real terms this amounts to 6000. Six. Thousand. FEWER. Nurses. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(7) Psychiatry doctor numbers have remained almost flat, in fact falling slightly:

We now have 170 FEWER fully trained doctors now vs 2010. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(8) The future doesn’t look great either – training for new psychiatry specialists fell to only 69% of places filled this year after two rounds https://t.co/VJpUrOhhdn — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(9) If these are just boring stats for you (and anyone else reading) let me summarise… The mental health workforce in England is around 210,000 staff… — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(10) Therefore an additional 4300 more “employees”, (not necessarily doctors or nurses), is JUST a 2% increase over 7 years. Meanwhile the WORKLOAD INCREASED by 28%. In real terms, almost a crisis. It certainly looks nothing like this manifesto pledge. https://t.co/ykFYzCxZK0 — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(11) Now I appreciate this is a difficult problem to overcome, but it’s your job. Firing out misleading stats on Andrew #Marr and Twitter helps no one, except perhaps you. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(12) Next up… “1400 more treated every day since 2010.” I assume you got that from this NHS Digital graph…https://t.co/6VxKZHDe7q — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(13) Seems ok at 1st glance, but unfortunately for you, https://t.co/p1A9bhLIgi have stated this figure is UNVERIFIABLE as they have changed the methods of measuring mental health user statistics over the time period. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(14) In addition, this figure was then confirmed UNVERIFIABLE by NHS Digital, the very people who created the graph in the first place! https://t.co/eJqUrBPseE — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(15) So in actual fact you are quoting a figure to state your position and measure your successes… that NO ONE CAN CONFIRM. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(16) I don’t blame you – if no one kept a record of Oscar winners I’d be telling everyone I’ve got four. #quadrupleOscarwinner #Boom — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(17) There’s another problem with this claim of yours. To get technical, quoting this as people “treated” is also misleading, as what the graph specifically shows is number of people “IN CONTACT WITH” a doctor. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(18) In the REAL world, outside of graphs and stats, that’s an important distinction that someone in your position really should be aware of. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(19) It could be the difference between seeing a doctor for an initial consultation (“in contact with”) and actually prescribed a treatment plan with medication/follow up/therapy (“treated”) — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(20) In terms of patient experience and care, that’s a HUGE difference. To reword this statistic from “in contact with” to “treated” is horribly inaccurate, misleading, and simply NOT THE REAL TRUTH. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(21) So… Either you know it’s a lie and you said it anyway, or you were genuinely unaware of the distinction. Instead of name calling, I’ll choose to believe you were unaware and said it in good faith. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(22) The good news is, now that you – and Twitter – know that this statistic is total bullshit, you won’t feel the need to use it again. On to your final claim… — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(23) “2700 more employed in talking therapies.” Well, I think you’re wrong, which might not surprise you. But what might be a surprise is, I have some good news for you… — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(24) In actual fact I think the stats are BETTER for your case than you have stated… As far as I can tell it’s actually closer to 3000 more in talking therapies – an INCREASE on the 2700 you claimed. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(25) As you can see, I’m more interested in transparent discussion than mud-slinging, and happy to concede where appropriate, as in this case. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(26) So… now to address your original challenge of finding a European country doing “better” and “faster”… Well, given what we’ve learned about those numbers you quoted, it’s hard now to find a single metric for what is defined as “better”. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(27) But what I CAN say, based on the real (not “alternative”) facts is the following… — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(28) We have far fewer doctors, nurses and beds per mental health patient than 2010, so have in fact gone backwards in that regard. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(29) Even IF the workforce has risen as you say, it is not unreasonable to attribute this to the IAPT programme which started in 2008 – under the previous government. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(30) However, most other staff groups have fallen, and nurses more than any other. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(31) So to answer you succinctly, it may be difficult to categorically state we are doing “better” than other European countries, but it’s pretty straightforward to say that we are doing considerably WORSE than we were in 2010. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(32) I hope this meets the challenge you issued to me. Now it’s my turn to issue a challenge in return. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(33) As I’ve demonstrated, you have a real problem with cherrypicking statistics to suit your needs. This may be acceptable in other jobs, but this is medicine, this is the NHS… this is SCIENCE. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(34) Indeed when the world’s smartest scientist Stephen Hawking himself called you out on this science, you were happy to claim your superior knowledge… of science, to the world’s smartest scientist!… so I’m sure you’ll happily do the same to me. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(35) But the fact remains that cherrypicking statistics is manipulative and damaging to public office, and to the health service. And I’m afraid the science – and the scientists – back me up, no matter how much and how loudly you protest. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(36) So here’s my challenge… I note you invited Prof. Hawking to meet and discuss these matters, and you repeatedly point out on twitter that he hasn’t yet agreed to. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(37) Well, whilst I don’t pretend to possess even a fraction of his intellect, might I take up the offer? — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(38) I suggest you and I sit down in real time, broadcasting live online, in the presence of fact checkers and medical professionals. Not about antagonism, but simply to reassure the public that your intention is to protect the NHS – free at the point of use. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(39) Because, Mr. Hunt, no matter what you’ve said, I have to tell you, at this point pretty much no one believes that you don’t want to privatise it, either openly or on the quiet. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(40) And even if your intention IS to privatise it, let’s be honest about it, so the public can vote fairly and with all the facts. The NHS belongs to them. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(41) So let’s not call each other names – if you’re the decent sort you say you are, and often appear to be on twitter, let’s have an open conversation and some transparency on the future of everyone’s healthcare. The British public deserve it. — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

(42) Do the decent thing. I triple dare you. <end of thread> — Ralf Little (@RalfLittle) November 13, 2017

Hunt better hope he hasn’t cut the burns unit…