Hospital Series 6

Episode
Episode 6
Broadcast Info
2020 (59 mins)
Description
During late summer and autumn, The Royal Free London has so far managed to remain open to all its patients and continue with planned operations, treatment and care. However, the second wave of the pandemic has now reached London and confirmed cases of the virus are prompting a fresh influx of patients with covid into the hospitals. As a second England-wide lockdown is in force, the Royal Free Hospital must continue to try and get through the biggest operating waiting list in its history. As a specialist centre, it sees some of the UK’s most complicated cancer patients. 58-year-old Gary has been referred for surgery to urgently remove a secondary cancer in his liver, after being successfully treated for colon cancer two years ago. He will need a bed in intensive care if his operation is to go ahead, but with both covid and other acutely unwell patients needing intensive care beds, the pressure placed on the Trust’s intensive care staff is immense. As sickness and self-isolation reduces the number of consultants available to safely treat patients, ICU Matron Mohammed Noor must now make some tough decisions. As one of the world-leaders in the treatment of infectious diseases, The Royal Free Trust has been instrumental in the fight for a Covid-19 vaccine. The Trust is working with the government’s Vaccines Taskforce as staff prepare for the roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine. As the biggest mass vaccination programme in the NHS’s history, staff are working around the clock preparing to vaccinate 10,000 staff members before Christmas. A huge challenge but one which the Trust knows it needs to fulfil, if as an organisation they are ever to stand a chance of getting back to normal and dealing with the huge backlog of treatment. In Barnet, the Trust’s second largest hospital, the number of covid-19 patients has more than doubled in the last week. As the hospital deals with the new influx of covid patients, Barnet’s senior team have a major staffing problem. Because of an outbreak of covid infection on three of the wards, staff have to self-isolate and be tested whether symptomatic or not, in-order to halt the spread. 25-year-old Patra is a foundation-year doctor who graduated from medical school in August. She now finds herself hospitalised with covid in her own hospital. She had been working on a covid-protected ward because she has an underlying health condition. But Patra started to feel unwell and was subsequently admitted and tested positive for coronavirus. Staff are not the only ones caught up in this outbreak; after having a fall at home, 87-year-old Joyce was also admitted to the ward that Patra was working on. There, she too contracts covid and her condition is causing concern for clinicians and her family alike. All these pressures mean that it is critical that the roll-out of the new coronavirus vaccine happens as early as possible. If the vaccine succeeds, it would present the biggest weapon the NHS possesses in the fight to overcome the second and further waves of covid-19. We follow the human stories behind the headlines of staff and patients alike, as they grapple with this extraordinary challenge of operating within the new covid-19 landscape.
Genre
Medicine; Business Studies; Science; Biology; Health and Social Care

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Hospital Series 6". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/237922 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)