We are blessed with NHS heroes

From spending cuts to staffing gaps, missed targets to bed shortages – we have become used to stories of NHS doom and gloom. The pages of this week’s Kent Messenger are by no means immune, carrying the outcome of an inquest which concluded that gross failings by a health service trust contributed to the death of young mental health patient, Natalie Gray.

But behind the headlines, there are also people doing remarkable things for the good of others. People like Dr Leon D’Cruz, who has been named the KM’s Hospital Hero 2016.

The newsroom was inundated with nominations for the specialist, who works in the respiratory research department at Maidstone Hospital, praising his unwavering dedication, care and support for patients with lung problems.

Aside from his professional duties Dr D’Cruz got involved in setting up a charity, as he felt there wasn’t enough help for people with lung conditions outside of the NHS.

And not content with that, he also flew abroad twice to get the right training on complex equipment, picking up the cost himself.

And of course this week we also tell the story of parents’ debt to the medical team at Maidstone Hospital. Doctors spent 45 minutes working to revive fourmonth-old baby Jensen Pettitt after he lost consciousness after taking infant medicine.

So yes our health system has its faults, and is experiencing a period of strain like never before.

But sometimes it takes people like Dr D’Cruz to make us realise just how lucky we are to have our NHS, and to revive our pride in a service which after all, remains the envy of much of the world.