"Brilliant National Health"

My wife is 76. We have been together since she was 16. To me she is still 16. She suffered from severe breathing difficulties for three weeks. Our doctor sent us to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary Accident and Emergency. We went through the process. A doctor who sent her for an X-ray. Fluid on the lungs. He sent her for a cat-scan to discover the severity. It was severe. She was immediately put onto oxygen and had to be transferred to Calderdale Hospital, but first it was imperative they start draining the fluid. A needle into the right lung, a tube into a plastic container and within an hour they had drained two litres. That's three and a half pints. By this time it was 10 in the evening.

An ambulance transferred her in the early hours, still taking oxygen and still attached to the container. The paramedics were amazed at the quantity. Admitted to Ward 2b for critical assessment at 2am and greeted with a cup of tea by a smiling nurse. Next day still on oxygen and pumped full of antibiotics. A new container was fitted and another quarter litre of fluid removed. By now she could walk to the loo carrying the container: she called it her designer handbag. A consultant explained she had had pneumonia as well as fluid on the lungs. More x-rays and another scan and discharged home Thursday evening.

She had been fearful of what the original scan might find, dreading the possibility of something fatal: this nearly had been. We have relatives who have died from fluid on the lungs.

The staff at both hospitals were amazing. They were overworked but maintained a smile, empathy and compassion. The paramedics were equally great. Grateful thanks to the staff on Wards 2b and 5d at Calderdale. They were wonderful.

Isn't it time the medical staff were paid what they are worth? That real money is spent on hospitals? We found the National Health Service working at full stretch is still magnificent because of the spirit, skill and care of its staff.

These are professionals who care for people. Unlike the entrepreneurs who cashed in on Covid by making millions from unusable personal protective equipment in a scandalous government scheme that became a scam.

Appreciate and protect the National Health Service.