24 Hours in A&E

Series 1 - Episode 8

Review

by David Butcher

Each edition of this series has bits that make you laugh out loud (listen for a great mini-rant about “recirculated” hospital air) and bits that make you tear up unexpectedly.

This slice of south London life at King’s College Hospital begins with a 22-year-old knocked off her bike by a moped. We learn that her boyfriend was killed in a cycling accident and her injury gives her pause for thought: “We do forget how vulnerable we are,” she reflects sadly. But the nurses and doctors never forget. “We are meant to grow old. We are meant to get sick. We are meant to die,” a consultant reminds us at one point. “I can fiddle about at the edge, but there’s no magic in this hospital that can change that.”

Summary

A 77-year-old former motorbike racer arrives with a potentially deadly swelling of the main artery that could burst at any moment. His only option is major surgery, which could be dangerous at his age. A woman whose boyfriend was killed in a cycling accident a year previously is also injured while on her bike, and a medical technician and a mobile caterer talk about their roles in aiding people to recovery.