SARAH VINE

WHAT keeps the NHS going isn’t money. It’s people — the amazing, astonishing, dedicated individuals who really make it what it is.

Men like the wise doctor, now retired, who saved my infant son’s life by diagnosing a rare condition that others had missed. Like the team who operated on his brain to drain an abscess, and the nurses and hospital staff who looked after us both in the aftermath.

Or the ambulance crew who came to fetch me when I slipped on ice and smashed my arm, and the surgeon who pinned it back together. And my own dear GP, a woman who recognised a leaky appendix and packed me off to hospital — and the young anaesthetist who came running after me in the hospital car park when I tried to check myself out, convinced as I was (under sedation) that there was nothing wrong.

And perhaps most of all the team at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in West London who saved my life and that of my daughter with an emergency C- section, kind and caring, and frankly magnificent under huge pressure.

Each one, yes, ‘just doing their job’ but also extraordinary in their professionalism and bravery.

It seems unthinkable that anyone could take such individual acts of heroism — and thousands more like them — for granted. Yet many of us do. We are so used to having the NHS in our lives, we often don’t know any better.

After all, none of these people ever asks for thanks. No one ever presents you with a bill. (I’d be bankrupt if I’d had to pay for even a fraction of the care I’ve received over the years.)

It is because of the supreme generosity of the NHS that not everyone values it for the extraordinary service it is. Yes, we all pay for it via our taxes. But what we get in return is worth far more than money can ever buy.

And that is why the Mail’s campaign to muster public support for the 1.5 million people who make up the staff of the NHS in the UK today, by encouraging ordinary people to volunteer their time, is so important.

It is our way of showing that we appreciate the people as well as the organisation; of returning, with a few hours of our time, the endless gift they give us. It’s about showing we understand that, while our healthcare may be free, it is far from worthless.

Time and again, the NHS has saved my family just as I’ve no doubt it has saved yours. And now the NHS itself needs help. Population numbers and life expectancy have grown steadily over the years and that, coupled with medical advances, means medical trusts have to manage rising patient expectations while resources are becoming ever scarcer.

BUT it’s not just a question of more money. We spend ten times as much on the NHS than we did 60 years ago; 30p of every £1 spent by the Government goes on health.

With NHS staff stretched to their limits, I want to do what little I can to assist. I can’t mend broken bones or perform heart surgery but if what few skills I can offer help in any way to take the pressure off, I will have made a small contribution towards repaying the immense debt I owe this wonderful institution.

The NHS is not just the responsibility of government; it’s the responsibility of us all. It deserves our respect, appreciation and help. Because, believe you me, you wouldn’t want to be without it.