"Brilliant NHS."

This is a tribute to the oft-maligned NHS.

My wife 76. We have been together since she was 16. She still is 16 to me.

She suffered from severe breathing difficulties for three weeks. Our GP sent us to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary A&E on Tuesday. At 10 in the morning it was full. We went through the process, were seen by a doctor who immediately sent her for an X ray. Fluid on the lungs. He sent her for a catscan to discover the severity. It was severe. She was immediately put onto oxygen and had to be transferred to Calderdale Hospital, where they have a specialist unit, 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 2 for critical assessment. 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 last night (Thursday).

My wife 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.

A&E at Huddersfield was as packed at 10pm as it had been at 10am. There was a camaraderie among patients, a willingness to help each other that was humanity in the raw. The staff were amazing. They were over-worked but maintained a smile, empathy and compassion. They see scores of ill people each day but make every one of them feel special. The paramedics were equally great. The staff at Calderdale Hospital were also superb. Nothing too much trouble. The same empathy and compassion.

Isn't it time the medical staff were paid what they are worth? That real money is spent on hospitals? We found the NHS 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 NHS.