NHS drama a real crisis
IT SEEMED, when my son was born in hospital, that we had to wait most of a day before a doctor could come and declare us well enough to go home. That was fine by us to be honest, as everyone there was kind and helpful and we were terrified of going back, completely alone, to look after a new-born.
HOSPITAL (BBC2) described this phenomenon (the waiting, that is, not the fear of newborn babies) as “the back door”, and laid on thick the consequences of it for the ailing NHS.
This third series of the documentary was filmed in Nottingham University Hospital during the recent savage winter and captured scenes worthy of a disaster zone. Corridors were impassable, as patients lined them, waiting in beds to be seen. An army of staff was tasked with ringing people up to tell them their operations were cancelled.
And as in any crisis, humanity was on show in all its colours.
Some people threatened, some were stoical, some wept silently. As a designated major trauma centre, the University Hospital was not able to shut its doors.
The extreme cold and the flu virus brought staggering numbers of people into A&E. Upstream, though, was a bigger blockage.
According to one of the staff interviewed there were four to five wards’ worth of people who did not need to be there. Some were better, some could be treated at home.
Discharging patients, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, was not a straightforward affair. A good example was Mavis, aged 86, who suffered with dementia.
She could no longer live at home, her devoted daughters could not provide the care she needed.
A nursing home needed to be found for this lady and it took weeks. She no more wanted to be there than the hospital wanted her there, though she was treated with dignity and kindness. Those qualities, ultimately, were the only hopeful thing about the whole programme. Two series in, it’s time to ask if this is really about the NHS in crisis or the NHS at an end.
Friends, who needs them? 24 HOURS IN POLICE CUSTODY (C4) suggested we’re all better off alone. The case of Kish and Debbie had plenty of twists and turns. According to Debbie he befriended her following the death of her partner and had been a decent pal.
Somehow, somewhere, however, this married father had got the wrong idea, turned creepy and was now being arrested under the 2012 stalking laws.
Whether the investigating officers genuinely had no opinions either way (yeah, right, as my son would say...), they behaved in a thorough and impartial manner. They were however as surprised as we were to find no evidence of constant calls to Debbie on Kish’s phone.
When a friend of the accused approached police at the local pub and said Debbie was the one doing the stalking we were ready to do a complete about-face.
Unfortunately the friend’s evidence pictures taken at the pub, only proved Kish was breaking his bail conditions.
While some further bits of evidence made him look suspicious, others were up in the air or just came down to, “He said, she said”. The CPS rejected the file.
A subsequent trial, we learned, was thrown out due to lack of evidence. So what did it all add up to? A tit-for-tat? A massive miscommunication? Considerably more than 24 hours were spent, proving nothing.