Critical condition
HOSPITAL BBC2, 9pm
DOZENS of hospital trolley beds are stacked end to end in the corridors. Operations are being cancelled and nurses have their heads in their hands.
As this eye-opening series moves to Nottingham’s Queen Medical Centre and City Hospital during January and February – the worst winter for the NHS on record – it’s the usual story of a health system strained to breaking point.
It’s both emotional and shocking from the outset as the busy hospital is declared at capacity because there are more than 20 people lying on beds in corridors with nowhere to go.
Patients should be seen, treated and released from the emergency department within four hours – but one woman has been waiting for more than 13 hours.
We meet Mavis, 86, who has been in hospital for months after a fall. She’s been well enough to leave for a month now, but there are no beds available in suitable care homes.
Meanwhile, 12-yearold Keilan has scoliosis, a severe curvature of the spine. The longer he waits for his operation, the more serious his condition becomes. But Keilan’s op has been cancelled before due to a bed shortage – he has been waiting 47 weeks so far – and his dad Lee is terrified it will be cancelled again. In the meantime, we learn that surgeons are left twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do. This is a heartbreaking look at the frontline of our NHS, the sheer determination of the staff and a crisis which is laid bare for all to see.