Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown said giving birth can be a “scary time” and she would never do it without a midwife present.
The Spice Girl, 47, was speaking on Tuesday at The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Awards, hosted by Davina McCall, at The Roundhouse in London.
The event to celebrate dedicated healthcare workers was attended by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, boxer Anthony Joshua, musician and actor Martin Kemp and comedian Al Murray.
Mel B said on the red carpet that the NHS works “relentlessly hard” and people “wouldn’t survive” without it.
Speaking about her own experience of healthcare, when she gave birth, the singer, whose full name is Melanie Brown, said: “I don’t think I could have done it without my midwife. I would never choose to do that without a midwife.
“They make you feel comfortable because it’s quite a scary or can be quite a scary time, and you look into the unknown even if you’ve had your second or third baby.”
Boxer Joshua said of the NHS: “My uncle is in there and I feel like the workers go unnoticed.
“It’s an important thing, until you go in there, you don’t realise how important the NHS is.”
When asked whether it means more to him then the average person as an athlete, he said: “Yeah, definitely, it’s amazing.”
Joshua also said he would fight Tyson Fury “when he’s ready – he’s not ready. When he’s ready, I’ll be ready.”
Presenter Chris Evans said the NHS has been “quite prevalent” in his life as his brother and mother were nurses and his father worked in a hospital.
“We need to treat them (better),” he said. “We should (all) do as much as we can (to help the NHS).”
Former England footballer David Seaman said: “It’s something that we take for granted and it’s not until you really need it and you realise, when you need it, and they’re always there.”
Comedian Al Murray said “we are very lucky” to have the NHS.
He added: “It means when I fell down the stairs on a railway station when I was 19 they fixed my elbow (and they delivered) my three daughters.”
Speaking about the current situation in the NHS, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “In terms of the challenge in waiting lists, we’ve seen a massive increase between going into the pandemic when there was just over 1,000 people waiting more than 52 weeks.
“So now we’re over 400,000 and that’s a real consequence of the challenges that we face from the pandemic.”
He said the health service would get £6.6 billion over the next two years and the social care system £2.8 billion, as outlined in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement.
Mr Barclay said the event was “an opportunity to celebrate the amazing work” and “dedication” of the NHS.
Sir Keir also gave his thanks to the NHS, saing he was “humbled” by the health service and it “was particularly difficult” during Covid.
The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Awards will be broadcast on Channel 4 and All 4 on November 27 at 6.30pm.
