Two patients await life-saving surgery at St Mary's in Paddington, the biggest of five hospitals in the Trust. They both need a bed on the intensive care ward. But the hospital is full to capacity and there is only one bed left.
While the hospital tries to discharge patients, new ones continue to arrive. Peter Lai, a 60 year old retired software engineer arrives at the hospital for a lifesaving operation on an aortic aneurysm in his chest.
In the immediate aftermath of the terror attack on Westminster Bridge, three miles away a major incident is declared at St Mary's Hospital, the nearest of London's four Major Trauma Centres.
51 year old Glendon from Preston has Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain tumour. Since being diagnosed 14 months ago, he has spent 10 hours a day Googling his condition in the hope of living longer.
Cameras follow patients at St Mary's who face a long wait, including a woman with serious mental health issues. There is also footage of patients and their loved ones coping with dementia, including a wife who is her 75-year-old husband's sole carer, and is at breaking point, partly due to his aggressive outbursts.
With access to two key specialities, cardiology and neurosurgery, staff at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are pushing the boundaries of what's possible technologically, at a time when the Trust has a planned annual deficit of £41 million.
12-year-old Keilan's operation has been scheduled in the middle of this winter crisis. He suffers from Scoliosis, a severe curvature of the spine. The longer he waits for his operation, the more serious his condition becomes.
Head and neck surgeon David Grant returns from annual leave to find his surgical list has snowballed. He's one of only two consultant surgeons at Nottingham University Hospitals' busy cancer head and neck service.
The advice from the NHS to cancel all non-urgent surgery is taking a heavy toll at Nottingham University Hospitals. Cameras follow Val, a 55-year-old mouth cancer patient, and Dilip Srinivasan, the surgeon fighting to see her operation goes ahead despite the new NHS ruling. Also featured is orthopaedic consultant surgeon Tony Westbrook, who has had most of his routine surgical list cancelled.
On most days in winter, the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Queen's Medical Centre is full. Intensive care is often the last resort for very sick children, a place that can keep them alive while doctors work on making them better.
Cancer operations at Nottingham University Hospitals are under threat of being cancelled as the Trust has run out of beds. As people lie on trollies waiting to be admitted into A&E, hundreds of mostly elderly patients are stuck in hospital.
Fifty-one -year old Ruth will need a critical care bed to recover from major surgery to her spine. On the morning of her operation, there is only one bed available for the six patient's who are booked in for major surgery that day.
It's peak time in one of the biggest emergency departments in the country, at 40 years old Royal Liverpool University Hospital in the heart of the city. The hospital is already near capacity and almost all beds are full.
Following a patient who has been in intensive care for twelve months, and another who has been ready for rehab for the past two months. Neither can leave The Walton Centre as there are no facilities outside for them.
A consultant recruitment crisis threatens care at Liverpool Women's Hospital. Doctors balance the care of a pregnant mother with cancer and a 33 hour old baby is rushed for surgery.
Alder Hay closes it's critical car unit to new admissions. A five year old girl returns three times for her cancelled heart operation and surgery at the edge of technology saves the life of a baby.
On an unusual day, three kidney transplants are due at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Meanwhile, at the woman's hospital, a mother pregnant with twins is faced with a heart wrenching decision.
A teenager self funds cutting edge surgery to treat his cerebral palsy, and surgeons go to appeal to fund an 81 year old's heart surgery and new DNA tumour profiling to try to save a baby.
In Aintree Hospital’s major trauma centre, a 15-strong team are trying to save the life of a young man who has been stabbed in the chest – one of three stabbings to arrive during the day.
Heart disease remains the biggest killer in the UK and every 5 minutes, across the country, someone has a heart attack. Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital's specialist services are on the frontline of this modern epidemic.
As medical advances save children who a decade ago may not have survived, Alder Hey Children's Hospital faces the challenge of providing ongoing care for these complex patients.
With NHS `bed blocking' numbers are at their highest level since 2017, Liverpool's hospitals are struggling to discharge patients because of a lack of care in the community.
In accident and emergency at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, a woman is brought in after experiencing an unexplained seizure. Potentially a warning sign of a complex brain condition, patients like this are referred onto a neurological specialist.
Alder Hey Children's Hospital is home to a world-renowned craniofacial department, one of only four in the UK treating life-threatening congenital skull and facial abnormalities.
The final episode looks at radical new treatments and surgeries offering cancer patients hopes of survival, including two-year-old Yeshua, who has a tumour in his abdomen. In Iraq, where he was born, Yeshua was given a five per cent chance of survival. Though high doses of chemotherapy have shrunk the tumour over the past six months, in order for Yeshua to survive he needs an extremely complicated 12-hour operation at Alder Hey Children's Hospital to remove as much of the growth as possible.
The UK lockdown is over, but London’s Royal Free Hospital is counting the cost of having to prioritise Covid-19 above almost everything else as they battle to treat the patients left behind.
This episode follows the Royal Free London NHS Hospital Foundation Trust as it faces the long-lasting effects of Covid on both patients and their services, amidst the looming threat of a second wave.
A look at the impact of Covid-19 on the Royal Free Hospital's transplant services, which treat some of the hospital's most vulnerable patients. It normally performs around 140 transplants a year in each discipline.
A bed shortage in Barnet hospital highlights the perpetual challenge of trying to discharge older patients, alongside the added complexities of Covid-19 infection risks.
While Covid patients are again being transferred to intensive care, the clinicians now have a wider array of treatments used to fight the virus, including experimental drugs and convalescent plasma.
As Covid-19 levels rise again, the Royal Free London prepares to roll out a mass vaccination programme, but it faces a staffing crisis that in turn threatens vital cancer operations.
University Hospital Coventry fights to restore services, but with their critical care unit at capacity, a decision is taken to ration intensive care beds for major operations.
University Hospital Coventry’s gynaecological oncology department faces rising referrals, a growing backlog and complex cases as the hospital’s theatre capacity attempts to return to normal.
With a UK lockdown baby boom, this episode follows University Hospital Coventry’s maternity and specialist research unit as it deals with the more complex and high-risk pregnancies.
At Coventry’s University Hospital, Critical Care is at full capacity, and two neurosurgeons must find a solution to treat both of their patients with only one bed available.
As lockdown beings to ease, the Emergency Department at University Hospital, Coventry is experiencing a 30% increase in patients presenting with mental health concerns.
After a year on hold, Plastic Surgery can finally tackle its backlog. But with NHS restoration funding unclear, difficult decisions must be made over the investment in robotic surgery.
