With an election looming on the horizon, the NHS is once more top of the agenda. There are the ever present rumours of financial crisis, fundamental questions are being asked once again about what we want our health service to provide, and suggestions are being made. Labour health minister Lord Warren has suggested people pay a £10 a month membership charge while the Guardian newspaper wonders what we do about A&E departments that are suffering from a rapid deterioration in performance as the summer progresses.

More new government reforms came into effect for the NHS last April with the creation of 200 organisations including a GP led groups that will manage budgets. Concerns were recently raised over the level of care for patients who have had tracheotomies, it was claimed that one in three of us may be on the edge of diabetes, and a pill based on the humble tomato has been touted as the next great advance in heart care.

It’s all part and parcel of our wonderful health service.

If you believe all the politicians, the NHS is in constant crisis, about to fall apart, in need of critical reform and not sustainable for the future. Doctors and nurses are under pressure, patient complaints are rising and it doesn’t seem that a week goes by without some new report or white paper on what is going to be done about it. If it was a patient, we would by now have called in a priest and begun last rites.

Here’s the breaking news: We still have one of the best health systems in the world, staffed by talented people who care, free at the point of use, and saving lives on a daily basis.

You can wake up in the morning, feeling a little under the weather and go and see a doctor. Whether you are rich or poor, you don’t have to worry about the cost. You’ll get seen by a qualified doctor and if something is serious they will refer you to the hospital which will take you in, check you out, diagnose, treat and care for you. All free at the point of contact.

Since it started in July 1948 the NHS has been one of the greatest achievements in our history. Before that healthcare was a luxury that many people could not even hope to afford. Today, we take it for granted that someone experienced and eminently qualified will take a look at our problem and do something about it.

Over the ensuing years, the NHS has transformed millions of lives for the better and been at the forefront of medical services that have seen our life spans extended, our chances of recovering from disease greatly increased and our general wellbeing improved. It daily helps people battle heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, works tirelessly to develop innovative and ground breaking new treatments and has significantly lowered the rates of infant mortality and the way we lead our lives.

On top of that it is one of the largest single employers in the UK, training staff to high standards so they can deliver to Joe Public a service that is largely the province of those with enough money in the rest of the world. According a Commonwealth Fund survey a couple of years ago, people in Britain have greater and quicker access to GPs, better co-ordinated care and suffer far fewer errors in treatment than other high income countries with a health care system.

Maybe it is a peculiarly British thing that we tend to focus on the negative rather than the positives. It is often easier to see things in a dark light rather than accept that we have a system of health care that is envied by the rest of the world and provides a safety net to catch us when we have health problems. Of course there are issues to be resolved. The NHS is a leviathan and it needs to grow and change with the times to cope with an increasing population that has become used to having their health cared for. It is not an unlimited resource and needs careful management.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t one of our most valued institutions. It is and we should be grateful that it is there to support us when we need it. The cost per head of the NHS is much lower than in other countries and, on a daily basis, it treats us and makes us better and we should be proud that it exists and that it is ours.