My dad had a medical emergency this week that taught me a lot about the NHS

The chain of responses that were set into motion after my dad was taken off in an ambulance with breathing problems made me realise how alone we would have been under a privatised system

Protests this weekend called on the government to reverse cuts (Rex)

On Tuesday my world was turned upside down. I was just tucking in to my lunch when the email flashed up on my phone. It was from Mum – she was just climbing into an ambulance with my dad, who was being rushed to hospital with a raised heart rate and breathing problems.

My parents live in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, not really somewhere I can scoot off to on my lunch break from my Kensington office. Mum’s email was short and frantic, and as it’s just the two of them at home I made the snap decision to drop my work, head to Paddington and take a train to the Forest of Dean.

When I got to my parents’ cottage, they were still at the hospital, but it wasn’t long before I’d had a call from Mum who was on her way home, alone: Dad had been admitted to the Acute Care Unit at Cheltenham General, and was going to be staying the night.

Following a rather uneasy night’s sleep and a few phone calls, my mum headed to Cheltenham General for an afternoon visit, and – happily – the doctors said that he would be able to go home with Mum that same day. This was great news, but it was what happened next that really blew me away.

I had just come off the phone with my mum, who was in a car with dad on her way home, when I had another call, this time from someone called Donna. Donna said she was calling from “Rapid Response” and wanted to arrange a visit to the house to see Dad. I explained that he wasn’t actually home yet, but that we would give her a call to arrange something when he was.

Mum duly called when they got back, and not 30 minutes had gone by when Donna from Rapid Response arrived at the front door. She began by introducing herself and explaining how it worked – “You’re on our ward now,” is how she put it. She was an incredibly professional specialist respiratory nurse – reassuring, thorough and, above all, kind. My dad’s a thoroughly resilient chap – he’s even been shot several times, lacking a spleen and a kidney for his troubles – but a full night in hospital with endless tests is bound to leave even the most hardy of men pretty weary, and I was impressed by how Donna took this into consideration in everything she said and did.

The practical impact of nurses coming to the house to check up on Dad really cannot be overstated. A round trip to Cheltenham General for my parents chews up two hours in travel time alone, which comes at the expense of Mum being able to do her job. It also set my mind at ease knowing that they have a number they can call any time day or night if they need a specialist nurse to come to the house.

Donna, Sarah and the other nurses have continued their daily visits throughout the week, usually telephoning in the evening too to see if Dad needs a second visit that same day. He’s having lots of tests, but they can all be done at home – even blood samples are taken at home, and are then taken away to hospital to be analysed.

This story is one of many, I’m sure, and the experience has reminded me in a very personal way just how brilliant our 24-hour, free-at-the-point-of-entry NHS is, how inspiring the people who work for it can be, and the life-changing (and life-saving) work that they continue to do tirelessly and with constant innovation. The work of the Rapid Response team in the Forest of Dean, for instance, keeps around 1,000 people out of hospital beds by facilitating their recovery in the comfort of their own homes.

However, our NHS – often cited as the envy of the world – is under threat. Yesterday there were protests attended by thousands of people – including many members of the Royal College of Nursing – under the banner “NHS in crisis: Fix it now”. RCN President Cecilia Akrisie Anim in a speech to the crowds highlighted the crisis currently facing the “understaffed and underfunded” organisation. One statistic she highlighted – not one I was familiar with – was that there are now more than 40,000 nurse vacancies in England alone.

If it weren’t for the NHS, my dad’s hospital visit and his ongoing personalised care at home would be racking up a mind-bogglingly large bill, which we would struggle to pay for, and this is the reality we all face if the Government ignores those protests. It’s the difference between someone providing a safety net when you fall and someone kicking you when you’re down. You can’t underestimate the importance of a service like that – and the Tories do so at their electoral, and our personal, peril.