The last few years have seen the NHS come under serious strain – funding cuts, doctor strikes, and recent tragic reports of patients dying while waiting in A&E.
It’s a vital time for our treasured health service – and new BBC documentary series Hospital brings a frank look at the strain being placed on the system.
The series is set in the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which consists of five hospitals in London.
The focus of Episode 1 is St. Mary’s in Paddington, which has seen a 10% % increase in A&E patients over the last year.
The hospital is facing a crisis in the amount of allocated beds, a problem reportedly classed at ‘code red’ three or four days a week.
As a result, it’s causing delays in surgery – with patients requiring days of hospital bed rest to recover – resulting in surgeons spending much of their time organising bed logistics.
“It does feel to me like the elastic is a bit nearer to breaking now than it perhaps ever was,” says ICU consultant Simon Ashworth.
“Everyone thinks what they’re doing is important, and guess what – everybody’s right”.
Like Channel 4’s 24 Hours in A&E, the BBC documentary features the personal stories of patients too – but the focus here is on using these cases are used to chart the health system as a whole.
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Hospital is a frank look at an NHS pushed to the edge – offering fresh admiration for the staff adapting every day to new challenges, all the whileholding people’s lives in their hands.
BBC Two, 9pm