What does the NHS mean to you? 

As Junior Doctors walk out and this time the emergency care staff too, it’s an important time to reflect and take stock of what our National Health Service provides, free of charge, to people like you and me.

Now I’m not saying it’s a perfect organisation, far from it, but when it really matters, we have the security in that our loved ones will receive free treatment regardless of their backgrounds.

I know how vital that is too. As this month marks a year since by three-month-old baby daughter stopped breathing and needed to be resuscitated. Without question, paramedics attended (a job role that lots of countries don’t even recognise), without question she was admitted into the resusc room at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield.

And so it went on. She received Intensive Care without question, she had tests, MRI scans despite the cost of them.

Here is the video diary I made during that time: https://youtu.be/l5xTnRcPmSQ

And we as a family, albeit the worst time of our lives, could focus on baby Arianna, without the worry over our finances and what treatment she “deserved.”

Through those dark days we were comforted by the fact that we were receiving world-class healthcare from people who dedicated their lives to their patients.

Junior Doctors, Doctors, Consultants, Nurses, porters, counsellors and everybody we met at hospital cared so much for my daughter.

My daughter Arianna is now a happy and vivacious one-year-old and has recently been discharged from hospital care.

It’s stories like ours and so many others that make me so passionate about our NHS and all those who are striving for it to improve and continue.

If we don’t look after and listen to our precious NHS staff, how can they safely look after us?

Take a look at this video on YouTube: