Hospital viewers praise heroic NHS staff under ‘enormous pressure’ as doctors admit they face life or death scenarios every day
NHS heroes were praised by viewers of BBC documentary Hospital as NHS staff tweeted to confirm pressure on the service means heartbreaking decisions are made everyday.
In tonight's episode a shortage of beds saw senior doctors running around St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, hoping to find a space for their patients and even being forced to postpone life-saving surgeries when they could not.
As the show followed the sad case of Peter Lai, a 60-year-old who has an operation to remove an aortic aneurysm cancelled at the last minute, NHS staff tweeted to say it was regular occurrence.
One said "In case you're wondering. This is pretty much everyday, everywhere in the #NHS right now. #Hospital."
Another added: "Sadly familiar scenes on #hospital. I hope this gives the public an idea of what is going on beyond the problems in A&E. This is systemic."
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A third said: "Just finished watching on BBC two & I can honestly say it is an exact portrayal of what I witness everyday at work."
The pressure facing NHS staff has dominated the news in recent months, with senior medics warning the health service is facing its worst winter crisis in its 69-year history.
At its worst St Mary's could have as many as 35 patients waiting for a bed in the intensive care unit, the documentary revealed as it looked at the desperate decisions staff need to make to prioritise patients.
As well as featuring Mr Lai the programme saw a man kept in a operating theatre for six hours after surgery waiting for a bed in intensive care to become free.
Keeping him on life support in the theatre meant other operations had to be postponed.
Lesley Powls the site director at the hospital tells viewers: “This [capacity] is really bad, I am sure it has been worse but this is particularly bad."
She said medics were forced to be “proactive and brave” and ask: “If a patient can go home tomorrow, why can’t they go home today?
“For every patient we discharge another patient is given that bed automatically, so if that goes wrong our system starts to back up.”
Viewers of the programme were clearly touched by the efforts of NHS staff tweeting their support.
One said: "This is the reality for our wonderful doctors and nurses, wasted resources and battling to save lives.";
Another added: "We are so privileged to have such dedicated staff saving lives."
A third added: "I have a new found respect for the NHS and their dedicated staff."
So severe is the NHS situation, the Red Cross has branded it a “humanitarian crisis”, while leading NHS bosses have said it is an "unprecedented" and "titanic" pressure.
Casualty departments are failing to meet key performance targets and are being forced to turn ambulances away, while ‘bed blocking’ is up 52 per from five years ago.
Around 7,000 of England’s 137,000 hospital beds are filled each day by patients who are ready to be discharged, but cannot be due to a lack of provision in social care.
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