Margaret Sherriff
Margaret Sherriff, 72, from Bonkle, near Wishaw, worked as a nursery nurse at Fir Park Special Needs School in Motherwell for 18-years - mostly in the speech language unit run by a speech therapist.
Like most people in the UK, Margaret has had frequent experiences of using NHS services throughout her life.
Some of these have been joyous occasions, like the birth of her five children, while others have been heartbreaking, such as when her late husband Cyril was diagnosed with cancer.
However, Margaret, who is now a volunteer fundraiser for Maggie’s Centre at Monklands Hospital, has always been impressed by the level of care provided by the NHS.
Here are her memories of the NHS.
Lung problems
I was born and brought up in Kilmarnock and I had plenty of early experience of being treated in the NHS.
When I was only 12-years-old an x-ray picked up that I had a lung condition.
I’d been born with a collapsed lung but it had never really affected me and I’ve just lived with it.
I’ve attended yearly appointments ever since to check the lung and at one stage doctors spoke about an operation to remove it but eventually they decided it would be better to leave it alone.
In later years they found a new growth but thankfully it wasn’t cancer.
I was very well treated by the NHS doctors and nurses in the 1950s and all through my life it has been the same.
It was an unusual condition but the doctors were very good and very thorough to make sure I was never in danger.
I was sent to a lot of clinics and had a lot of tests done so they could not have done any more for me.
Childbirth
My five children Gordon, Alastair, Douglas, Fiona and Graham were all born through the NHS.
Gordon was born at Thornhill Maternity Hospital. He needed to be delivered by forceps, since I had an epileptic fit during the pregnancy. The midwives, nurses and doctors were all wonderful and thankfully everything worked out perfectly in the end.
The other four were all born at Bellshill Maternity Hospital with no complications and could have no complaints at all about the service I received for everyone of them.
Cancer
My husband Cyril was diagnosed with bowel cancer 30 years ago.
Thanks to the treatment he received through the NHS he beat the disease that time and we had plenty of happy years because he survived that.
If it hadn’t been for the NHS who know what would have happened so I have a lot to be thankful for.
Unfortunately in 2003 Cyril was diagnosed with liver cancer. He was treated at the Wishaw General and at the Beatson Centre in Glasgow.
The treatment he received was excellent and the doctors and nurses couldn’t have done enough for him.
Cyril would agree with me as he was always very positive throughout his treatment and he told us all we had to be positive.
Unfortunately the cancer spread and he died that year aged 71.
I got involved with the Maggie’s Centres after Cyril died. Unfortunately we only found out they existed when it was too late for Cyril because it would really have helped us.
The nurses and doctors were brilliant with Cyril but they just don’t have the time to spend talking with patients and their families.
Maggie’s are wonderful facilities and it’s fantastic that Lanarkshire now has it own centre at Monklands.
They complement the work of the NHS for patients with cancer and their families and I’m proud to be able to help them.
The National Health Service
You have to speak from your own experiences and from my personal point of view we are extremely fortunate to have the NHS.
It may not be perfect but what is? People complain sometimes about silly things like the food in hospitals but I’ve always thought it was fine. You’re not in hospital for the food, you’re there because you need the expertise of the doctors and the nurses.
If you compare the NHS to the health services in other countries we are very fortunate. There may be some gaps but in general it’s a great organisation.