NEWS COMMENT: Make sure you join the conversation on the NHS

It plays a role for all of us from our very earliest moments, often to the very last – and, for the less fortunate, with several visits in the intervening years.

But no-one can have failed to notice the problems the NHS is facing and will continue to face over the next few years.

The News has reported regularly on a whole raft of issues, none more so than the ongoing issues at A&E at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

Indeed even today we have the latest figures on whether it meets the target of seeing patients within four hours.

The hospital continues to fail to hit the 95 per cent target set by government.

The latest numbers show only 68.7 per cent of patients were seen within that four-hour timeframe in November.

Worrying to say the least and certainly something to mull over if you are considering taking your ailment to QA.

But looking at the bigger picture, the NHS is looking to change.

As we reveal today, the Clinical Commissioning Groups that cover this area are hoping to start a conversation with people about the services they provide.

Among the issues they raise are healthier lifestyles, the GP shortage and the much-discussed seven-days-a-week NHS and what it means.

These are big issues and ones that could effect every one of us.

So we would encourage you to join the conversation.

Make your voice heard on the NHS.

As the CCGs says today, more detail will come in time, and the more people who engage and the sooner they do, the better people will be represented when the decisions are made.

So why not get involved and help try to improve the NHS?