In the run-up to an election, health is always a highly-emotive issue.

For many people, it is top of their agenda in seeking change.

Rose and Ian Siddall are well-placed to comment. They have spent many hours in hospitals across West Yorkshire.

Their son Ryan, now nine, was just five when his life was transformed after receiving one of his dad’s kidneys in a transplant operation.

Rose has also spent much time supporting and helping to care for sick relatives in hospital.

Their experience of the NHS is mixed. They are full of praise for Ryan’s care, which has for the most part been “outstanding”, but also feel that some aspects of the health service need addressing.

“We would like to see the Government put effort into encouraging people to join the organ register,” says Ian, who believes that there should be an automatic consent. “People are dying every day due to the shortage of donors.”

Rose has strong views on individual care, believing that the personal touch has disappeared in the race to meet Government targets. “It is far more political now, all about targets and budgets – hospitals are run more like businesses, people are not seen as people.

“I have a friend who waited for 20 minutes for someone to respond to the emergency button while recovering from an operation. People should be treated with respect.”

She would like to see a return to old-style nursing practices, with a member of staff supervising the ward day and night. “And there should be adequate numbers of staff on wards. The duty of care isn’t there,” she says. “This week I went with a friend for an out-patient appointment. We got there in good time but ended up waiting for two hours.”

She adds: “Staff are tired and work long hours, so there is more chance they will make mistakes.”

Rose and Ian, who live in Buttershaw, feel there should be far better facilities at hospitals, such as car parking. “There is never anywhere to park, and there should not be charges at hospitals,” says Rose. “It all adds to the stress.”

Arthritis sufferer David Pollard has been a member of the Bradford branch of Arthritis Care. He spent two years waiting for an arthroscopy – keyhole surgery of the hip joint – but during his wait his hip collapsed, meaning he needed a full hip replacement.

“I waited six months for that,” he says. “I went through a long process of appointments with a consultant, and then they kept putting me off and putting me off, and then my hip collapsed. If I’d had the arthroscopy when I was supposed to it would have been at far less cost to the NHS.

“I would like the Government to reduce waiting times, and if they are unable to do that, then at least be honest with patients about how long, realistically, they may have to wait for treatment.”

Father-of-two David, of Wyke, would also like to see better financial help for people like himself who cannot work due to disability. “I’ve been unable to work for five years and if, like me, you have family to support it is so difficult – you virtually live hand to mouth,” he says.

He believes that people with disabilities often cannot afford to work, and would like to see the tax threshold lowered. “I’m being forced back into work, yet all the jobs I see advertised are paying minimum wage,” he says. “I’m not asking for chauffeur-driven cars or foreign holidays, just a decent standard of living. I think we’ve all been let down badly, and I would like to see a government which cared more about people, especially the less able.”

Bradford chiropractor Richard Mathers, who runs a clinic in Wilsden, echoes these views with a wish to see more patient-centred care in the NHS. “Under the next government I would like to see people being able to choose the treatment that suits them. For instance, if people feel that a chiropractor would help them I’d like to see the NHS fund that,” he says.

“I’d don’t think there is enough of a focus on individual patients and on integrated care. People see a specialist about a particular complaint but they don’t look at the whole picture or whole person – this could involve a number of different areas, and specialists talking to one another.”