TV to shine light on lifeinYorkshireA&E

Overstretched medics tell of ‘challenges’

HEALTH: A new documentary series about an overstretched A&E unit in Hull said he hopes it shows viewers the challenges the department regularly faces.

Dr Chris Srinivasan, one of the doctors who is featured, said he hopes that the footage will help people realise they might be able to get the care they need elsewhere.

AN NHS doctor who appears in a new documentary series about an overstretched A&E unit in Hull said he hopes it shows viewers the challenges the department regularly faces.

Dr Chris Srinivasan, who is one of the doctors featured in A&E After Dark filmed at Hull Royal Infirmary (HRI), said he hopes the footage will help people realise they might be able to get the care they need elsewhere.

“The staff embraced it [the filming]. They wanted to show the public the work they did and help the public understand the challenges that we face in Hull, but all emergency departments across the country, with the spectrum of problems that we see overnight,” he added.

“We also hope that people in the future might choose differently, or when they do come to us they understand the reasons they have to wait and that we can’t necessarily see them straight away.”

The six-part series was filmed before the coronavirus crisis, and Dr Srinivasan said: “At the time that the series was filmed we were seeing 400 patients a day and at times that was very, very difficult to manage and we are wanting people really to understand that under certain circumstances they might want to seek help elsewhere, maybe at an urgent care centre or within their GP.

“I think the brand of emergency

department, of A&E, is so strong that people generally know what they are going to get and sometimes people are better self-caring or seeking help in other ways.

“But at the same time, what we

Your shift in an emergency department can be unpredictable.

Dr Biju Cherian, an emergency medicine consultant at Hull Royal Infirmary. don’t want is for people who have severe life-threatening problems to be at home when actually they really need to be with us.”

Recorded last autumn, the series follows doctors and nurses dealing with the “completely different working dynamic” of a night shift.

Alcohol and drug-related admissions go up, as do admissions of vulnerable people, including the elderly and those with mental health issues, while falls and road traffic accidents also become more common.

During the earlier stages of the pandemic, A&E attendances fell but they are now rising again and the department is seeing around 300 patients a day.

Dr Biju Cherian, consultant in emergency medicine, who also features in the series, said: “Being filmed at work did feel a little strange at first, but staff quickly got used to the team being in the department and, in fact, many colleagues were keen for Crackit to show what life is really like for us on a typical night shift.

“Your shift in an emergency department can be unpredictable, but this is often what makes it so interesting, and every patient has their own story to tell.

“They might be new parents, recently bereaved, had too much to drink, be experiencing mental health distress, or been involved in a major road traffic collision – but to our team, everyone deserves and receives the highest level of care.”

■ A&E After Dark starts on Channel 5 at 9pm tonight.