Hospital Series Two

Episode
Episode Two
Broadcast Info
2017 (58 mins)
Description
Extraordinary medical advances are transforming lives but some patients are at the very frontiers of what’s possible - and affordable - for the NHS. With an estimated deficit of £850 million across England’s hospitals alone and a big expansion of new treatment options, the NHS faces ethical and financial challenges in treating patients who want expensive or unproven drugs to prolong their lives.
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. Glendon has identified an immunotherapy drug, the effectiveness of which is not yet fully proven for his type of cancer and so is not licensed and available on the NHS. Undeterred, Glendon wants to self-fund a course of the drug and comes to Charing Cross Hospital’s private wing to see Oncologist Dr Matt Williams. The drug Glendon wants costs up to £30,000 per round, ‘I feel like I’m being asset stripped for a cancer that isn’t my fault’ he says.
At Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, 44-year-old Nicky from Devon has travelled to receive NHS treatment not available at her local hospital. Nicky has ovarian cancer, which has spread; to extend her life, she needs a radical operation to remove it. Professor Christina Fotopoulou is one of the few NHS surgeons in the country to offer this life-prolonging surgery. Nicky also wants to take a promising drug to fight her cancer but it’s currently only available on the NHS once she has had three courses of chemotherapy and she’s only just about to start her second. So she’s attempting to crowdfund the £60,000 needed to buy the drug herself, ‘Each way I turn, the costs for treatment are terrifying. No one talks about the costs of cancer and I am determined to try & find a way to stay alive’.
'We are living in a golden age of more and more cancer drugs being available’ says the Trust’s Divisional Director for Cancer, Dr Katie Urch, ‘How do you cost life? It is very, very difficult’.
Genre
Medicine; Business Studies; Science; Biology; Health and Social Care

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Hospital Series Two". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/228451 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)