11th October 2008 - A day to remember

As the global financial crisis continues to dominate the world of politics, my world changed forever this weekend - for, not long after Rio Ferdinand scored England's opening goal against Kazakhstan, I became a father for the first time.

My attention was no longer on Parliament but across the river at St Thomas' hospital where, on the 7th floor, over 4,000 babies are delivered every year. This almost industrial scale of baby production suggested to me levels of care might not be what they should be. How wrong I was. In a complicated labour lasting twenty hours, three shift changes and about thirty pages of time logged hand written notes, I was introduced to the high-octane world of NHS care at its best. We were certainly in dedicated and experienced hands. This was confirmed by the speed and size of the delivery team that poured through the door seconds after the midwife allowed me to pull the big red emergency button signaling things were about to reach a crescendo.

And whilst my needs or interests were the least of the doctors' concerns, I learnt more about this great institution, its values, its challenges and its people, than from any organised meeting or debate. I was struck by the hospital's proximity to Parliament, just 100 yards away, where we spend endless hours discussing our health service , yet here it was in the flesh, able to tell its own very real story. There certainly is merit in MPs immersing themselves at the coal face of any organisation in order to gain a more vivid picture.

The world may remember this date as the peak of the worst financial crisis in living memory. For the Ellwoods, it is the beginning of a new family, made all the more poignant in that it is also six years ago to the day that my brother walked into a bar with some friends in Bali, Indonesia, never to come out again.