Episode 1 Scotland's Superhospital

Glasgow's skyline has changed.

Four of the city's oldest hospitals have closed their doors.

And Scotland's biggest and most talked about hospital

has taken over.

-My name's Davey, I'm going to take you for a wee X-ray, OK?

-Yeah.

Three-quarters-of-a-million patients are treated here every year

using state-of-the-art technology...

I've got the manoeuvrability down there with the robot.

..cutting-edge operations

and world-class scientific research.

What he said, it had been grown in a laboratory in America.

I'm going to be one of the first.

-That's quite good!

-HE CHUCKLES

This massive building

is transforming health care in Scotland.

'There's nowhere else in Scotland

'that could have done everything that we've done.'

But is big necessarily better?

I think, on average, we walk about 20 miles a day, which is a lot.

I'm in an airport or I'm in a hotel. It's a cross between the two.

And in a hospital this size,

are they in danger of losing the human touch?

Can you hear me?

You could go how home irredeemably mad

if you spent all your time in a single room.

HE SCREAMS

'It's all technology in here now. I don't like it at all.'

'The hospital is absolutely wonderful.'

The staff can't be praised high enough.

Fantastic.

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION ON WALKIE-TALKIE

Helipad is open, so standing by.

The Emergency Department in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital

in Glasgow is the most modern in Scotland.

Over 110,000 new patients are seen here every year.

Some arrive by helicopter from as far north as Skye.

It's the first hospital in Scotland to have a rooftop helipad.

Delivering patients this close to the Emergency Department

saves up to 15 minutes' transfer time.

Cutting time saves lives.

Today, the Scottish Air Ambulance has made the 36-mile flight

from Loch Fyne.

Onboard is a casualty who was cut free

from a head-on collision with a lorry one hour ago.

News from the air ambulance is that the patient is critically ill.

He has been incredibly unstable in-flight.

Needing a lot of drugs, a lot of blood.

The helipad has a dedicated rapid-access lift.

It can transfer a patient from the helicopter

direct into the heart of the Emergency Department within minutes.

This is George Marron.

He's 34, was driving a small hatchback,

has collided with an HGV.

Massive damage to both vehicles.

I really didn't know whether or not the patient was going to be

still alive in the back of the helicopter

and what to expect when he arrived in a resuscitation room.

Grand, shall we get him across?

Two, three.

'My heart was pounding very fast.'

There's a bit of an exhilaration as well.

This is why we specialise in emergency medicine.

'But there's a human in you that's just scared for the patient as well.

'You just don't know how they're going to be when they arrive.'

So, he's been in the driver's seat.

The whole dashboard has come back with the force of the impact,

and the car has spun.

And his legs were trapped,

and he was trapped or pinned by the steering wheel into his chest.

So the Fire Service are having to do a fairly prolonged

extrication to create space to then take the roof off,

cut through the pillars and get him out.

In the end, what they did was create enough space

that we could just...what we call a crash extrication

because he was deteriorating in front of us.

I was glad he was still alive.

He was that unstable.

OK, a quick primary survey when everyone's ready.

A team of 12 trauma specialists are on hand

to deal with George's multiple injuries.

OK.

'When trauma patients arrive in hospital,

'it's a little bit like the Pied Piper.'

It can become quite crowded.

The resus bays are fairly spacious,

but once you've got a patient and equipment around about them,

12 people, it's an awful lot.

As soon as you're clear, can we step away?

Too many people.

However, the team are excellent.

We allocate roles at the very beginning

before the patient arrives.

Everyone has a very clear idea of what they are expected to do

during the trauma.

As sick people go,

he's up at an eight or nine or a ten at the moment.

So, he has got a head and face injury, presume the neck.

Penetrating injury to the right chest from dashboard glass.

He had a thoracoscopy of his right chest at the scene

with concerns that there was bowel palpable within the chest wall.

Possible diaphragmatic injury.

He's got a shortened right leg and a significantly swollen right thigh.

There's a small puncture in the lateral aspect of his thigh

which I presume is open.

-He's going to get a CT scan down to his legs.

-Sure.

-OK?

The scan in the next hour will decide which way he's going to go.

When somebody's as unstable as this,

moving him anywhere at any time is a risk,

so you've got to weigh up the risks

to whether further imaging is a benefit.

-And it's one of those decisions that you've got to...

-I'm sorry.

Moving George is dangerous.

But a scan is the best way to find out the severity of his injuries.

The adult hospital and the hospital for children

stand side-by-side on one campus,

bringing all the specialisms together.

But teenagers with cancer fall between the two -

no longer children and not yet adults.

So the superhospital has a specially designed teenage ward.

The Teenage Cancer Trust unit is the largest in Scotland

and is a home-from-home with everything a teenager needs.

Around 20 teenagers aged between 13 and 19 from all over Scotland

are treated here each year.

HE EXHALES

18-year-old Connor has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

and is receiving intensive chemotherapy.

Connor was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 12,

so it's a huge blow the cancer has returned.

I had a couple of years clear where I was getting back to normal,

trying to go to college and see my friends

and just get back to a normal life that I would have had

if I didn't have cancer.

But then, just shortly after my 18th, it just came back.

That was a good shot.

Connor is in chronic pain from his first chemotherapy treatment.

So he knows more will be tough.

It's kind of upsetting because I've not got a lot of family

so I feel like I'm putting them in a tricky situation,

even though they always say it's not my fault but

I do feel like it's my fault some of the time because

I've ended up getting this again.

Angela, Connor's mum,

has given up her job to be with him every step of the way.

It was horrific when he got the news.

Just to realise he had gone back the way when he had spent

so much of his time building up that life for himself again.

And just at the time of being 18

when you should be going out with your friends.

You should be going on holiday to Ibiza with your friends.

All of that was taken away, again,

to be told that he would have to go through it again.

To get the cancer back into remission,

Connor's been in and out of the teenage cancer unit for treatment.

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to take your medication with water! Oh!

An 18-year-old does not want to spend 24 hours, seven days a week,

with his mother.

As much as I love my child,

I don't want to spend 24 hours a day,

seven days a week with my child.

MACHINE BEEPING

When I'm having a really, really down day

he will pick me right back up.

And I'll look at him I'll think,

"Well, it's not happened to me, it's happened to you,

"and if you can do it, so can I."

I'm kind of falling now.

You're sliding!

The first time Connor had cancer, he was a child

and had no choice about his treatment.

But now he's 18 so he can be in control

and he has a choice between two treatment options.

Consultant Nick Heaney is a teenage cancer specialist

and is experienced in working with young people

with teenage priorities.

Connor is faced with this really difficult decision.

Does he remain on maintenance chemotherapy,

which would be against our advice because we're too worried

that with that approach his leukaemia will come back again.

Or does he take the recommended option,

which is to have a stem-cell transplant,

but in doing that he's going to separate himself

away from the life that he'd just got back again.

Although the stem-cell transplant is the best chance of a cure,

Connor is resistant to the idea.

It's a complex and difficult treatment

with weeks in isolation to protect him from infection

which would mean he'd have to put his life on hold.

The stem-cell transplant can also have life-threatening side effects.

'I think Connor is very frightened

'about getting a stem-cell transplant.'

It's dangerous from the point of view that we do know that

some people that undergo stem-cell transplants don't survive it

either because of the complications such as infection,

maybe because of the side effects,

the damage to other parts of their body,

or because, unfortunately, it doesn't work

and their leukaemia just comes back.

-Hiya.

-Hi.

-Hi, Connor, hiya.

As the stakes are so high,

Nick Heaney wants to make sure Connor fully understands

the consequences of his decision.

All I can say is that we believe that the risks are higher

of it coming back if we do not perform a stem-cell transplant.

It's likely at times you will not feel good,

you will feel unwell and there might be complications from it.

But it's been done with the intention of, you know,

taking the leukaemia away and this time keeping it away.

There's still no guarantee that it will stay away, though.

-There's still a chance it could come back.

-It's a really good point.

I guess that's what makes your decision hard

because we're not saying, "Go through this

"and we sort of guarantee you will be cured." We can't do that.

There are some people that go through

all these difficult decisions, this difficult process,

and unfortunately it does come back.

People are always saying, "Think to the future."

I don't like thinking to the future

because I might not be here in the future.

Something could happen,

so I want to go to college and live my life in the now,

so that's why I'm more worried about college just now

than I am of the future.

An agonising decision to make and on such young shoulders.

It's been three-and-a-half hours since George was critically injured

in a head-on collision with a lorry.

It took just 15 minutes to fly him

the 36 miles to the Emergency Department.

The trauma team have now stabilised him enough

to risk moving him to the full-body CT scanner just next door.

'As a team, we decided there was no risk here.'

We were pretty confident that we had stabilised the patient enough,

that we had an opportunity to take George to the CT scanner.

Within the medical profession,

we call the CT scanner "the doughnut of death"

and that's because it is an area where

you can't be beside the patient.

The patient is then in a room, fully monitored,

however you are not with them.

The trauma team from around the hospital have gathered.

General surgery, anaesthetics, neurosurgery,

intensive care and orthopaedics are all on standby.

Everyone wants to see the scans as they happen

so we can make quite rapid decisions about where to proceed next,

whether or not he needs to go immediately to theatre,

whether or not he needs to go directly to intensive care.

First, they must establish if George has any brain damage.

'We can see the images appearing as they happen.'

I was very happy to see that George's CT of his head,

which was the first scan that was done, looked normal to me.

That was incredibly reassuring at that stage

given his reduced conscious state.

The scans also reveal George's chest and abdominal injuries

don't need emergency surgery.

But he has significant fractures down his right side

which must be stabilised until they can be operated on in the morning.

Until George is awake,

they won't know if the trauma to his spine

has caused serious damage to his spinal cord.

Before we start plastering and doing stuff like that,

kind of let the partner in really quickly to see him...

Just to come in even for five minutes just to

reassure herself that he is alive and well.

George's partner Elaine arrived from Dunoon two hours ago.

Only now is he stable enough for her to see him.

I would say he's really lucky to have survived.

For him to have come out of this with his life still intact is

nothing short of a miracle, so, yeah,

he's a very lucky man to be alive.

Right now I think we're all very happy that we've got this far

and he's as stable as he is.

But until he comes round they won't know if

he has a spinal injury that will leave him paralysed.

The Queen Elizabeth treats around 750,000 patients a year.

It's packed with the most up-to-date facilities,

self-service check-ins and even robots to do the heavy work.

But moving patients around the hospital is the responsibility

of an army of 220 porters, like Davey.

All right, Danny boy?

-All right, Davey?

-How you doing, son?

-My name's Davey, I'm going to take you for a wee X-ray, OK?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Hello, Porters.

Janice is one of the supervisors who allocate the jobs as they

come in to Porter HQ.

Hi, Janice.

Davey, I've got 11D going to...

Hi, there, have you got specimens going to the labs here?

-Yeah, that's the specimens there.

-Thanks very much.

With 12 floors and 90 wards, all linked by 127 corridors,

the porters need to go the extra mile.

I think, in the average, a porter would maybe walk about ten, 20 miles a day. Which is a lot.

Specimens there, pal.

Cheers. Thanks a lot.

Davey, I've got a BTM from 7...B, for bravo.

The worst part of the job is a BTM, which is a body to mortuary.

I'm going to come and give you a hand because we're a bit busy just now.

No porter likes doing that but we've got to do it.

Somebody's got to do it.

The city mortuary has been custom-built

in the underbelly of the new hospital.

It's the biggest and busiest in the UK,

receiving around 200 bodies from the hospital every month.

-Wee bit sad, you know.

-Yeah.

You're taking a person to their place of rest, you know, it's... it's sad.

Davey, I've got a patient at the U5...

'For me, the best part of the job is patient transfers.'

-I'm Davey, William, we're going up to room...ward 11C. OK?

-OK.

They're no' in here for nothing, you know. The people in here are ill.

'So you try and kind of relax them and that, you know.'

What are you smiling at?

Ask them did they like Coronation Street.

-No, I hate it.

-You hate it?

That's...

It's that kind of banter you get, you know, with the patients.

And if you dae that, you know, you feel a bit better,

you feel good, you know.

Definitely dae.

Thank you, see you later.

Connor has been in the teenage cancer unit for the past week.

Tonight he's having a break from treatment.

He has invited some pals over

to make use of one of the hospital's unique features.

It's the only hospital in Scotland with its own cinema.

It gives patients like Connor a few hours' escape from hospital life.

It is actually pretty cool, it is, this.

Sean and Liam, they're probably my best friends at the moment

and they've backed me up throughout the whole way.

THEY LAUGH

They continue to support me.

And if you've got what I've got you can't go anywhere,

you need to watch your counts.

So I'm not allowed to go to normal cinemas because people can

be coughing or the seats aren't washed or that,

so I can get not well.

But if you've got somewhere like this, then it makes a big difference,

where you can actually get your pals and go and watch a film.

THEY LAUGH

Aye, right.

Soon Connor is back on the ward and having chemotherapy.

And he's wrestling with the biggest decision of his life...

Can I get you anything?

No.

..whether to agree to the intensive stem-cell transplant that

might cure him but would disrupt his college course,

or opt for three years of outpatient chemotherapy,

which would allow him to lead a more normal life.

But it's much less likely to rid him of the cancer for good.

Connor must decide today.

Unfortunately now we do need to put some pressure on Connor to

come to a final decision.

We feel that, medically, we're in the best position now to be

moving forward for a stem-cell transplant

and the longer we leave things

the more concern we have that his leukaemia could come back again.

Connor finally decides to go for the stem-cell transplant.

You know, I'm pleased he's made that decision.

We quite honestly said to him we were struggling to find

evidence of any patient in his sort of situation,

with his...his disease, that had not had a transplant and then was alive

many years later, so we had to kind of put it in stark terms.

I think he'd be the first to admit he was pretty upset by hearing that.

I'd been not influencing his decision, because it had to

be his decision, but he did ask me, "Mum, what would you do?

"If I asked you to make the decision, what would you do?"

And I said to him, "You have to have a transplant. You need to live."

But with the chance of cure comes the risk of serious complications.

I'm terrified. I'm terrified. I know it's not an easy path.

I know it's not an easy journey.

It's obviously a very scary process, I'm really scared, erm,

but obviously very hopeful that, you know, a year from now

Connor will be on the path to, you know, living his life as he should.

But obviously, erm... just the fact that...

..I have to rely on someone else to save my child.

Sorry.

Someone else has got to come in and save my son, because I can't do it.

If I die from this, Mum would be heartbroken.

And probably couldn't...cope and go on. So it's just...

My decision is for my mum basically, like all my decisions are.

I always do the best for my family.

24 hours ago, George was rushed to the superhospital by helicopter,

after being in a head-on collision with a lorry.

He has been moved from the Emergency Department

to the state-of-the-art intensive-care unit, one floor up.

There is absolutely a reason to put the critical-care units

directly above the Emergency Department.

It means that the transport of patients

from the Emergency Department to the critical-care areas is very brief, erm,

whereas in other hospitals, where they were built quite

a long time ago, they're not planned out quite so well.

It might have been a 10-to-15-minute journey to get

a patient from the Emergency Department to a critical-care area.

Can you hear me?

George's partner Elaine

was at home in Dunoon when she heard the news.

He was due to arrive home about six o'clock...

..and I heard all the sirens

and I thought, "Oh, no, that's a bad accident."

Cos I could hear all the fire engines, the ambulances, the police and everything.

The first split second I thought, "Oh, that better not be him."

And then, about an hour later, I got a knock at the door

and it was the police and I just knew. I just...

Soon as he was standing there, I was like... I knew straight away.

I got on the ferry and the traffic police met me at the other side.

And...

put the blue lights on and got me up here so quickly.

George has been sedated and on a ventilator for six days.

Intensive-care consultant Katherine McDowell is attempting to

reduce the sedation and bring him round for the first time.

They need to find out if he can move his arms and legs.

Geo, can you open your eyes for me?

Yeah.

You're quite safe. You're in intensive care.

You're in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

It's Wednesday morning.

You've been with us for a few days now,

you've been in a really nasty accident. You are getting better.

Can you squeeze Louise's hand for me?

Squeeze my hand, Geo.

Geo suffered some very severe injuries

and given the magnitude of the trauma that he's suffered

we're pleased with the progress he's making.

From a neurological perspective,

we've been able to evaluate that he's able to move all his limbs,

after having suffered the spinal-cord trauma,

which is encouraging to us.

The signs are there is no spinal-cord injury.

Did you hear me? Can you hear me, Geo?

But George still hasn't been able to communicate.

Can you feel my hand?

Can you feel my hand here, Geo?

SHE GASPS

He squeezed my hand.

I love you.

George has escaped permanent spinal injury.

But he has a long road to recovery ahead.

24 miles down the Clyde from the superhospital in Gourock,

the Brands family are creating memories.

Smile.

Louise and Craig have three children.

The latest addition to the family is 12-week-old Fynn.

Fynn was born with a gap or cleft in his lip and the roof

of his mouth where the tissues didn't fuse properly.

Around 100 babies are born every year in Scotland with this problem.

Louise and Craig found out before Fynn was born at their 28-week scan.

The consultant handed us one of our scan pictures and basically

just shook his head and he said, "Cleft lip," and I started crying.

Between his nose and the mouth is a cleft.

He knew straight away that that wasn't his tongue sticking out,

that the black was definitely a hole.

I think I was more angry because our baby wasn't going to be perfect.

You then start to put it in perspective.

He's going to be born with an operation needing carried out

on his lip and his mouth.

However, he's going to have a fit and healthy life.

'I think it's important he knows that we weren't at all embarrassed.'

'That's why it was important to get the photos done.

'To have memories of him with it.'

Here at the Cleft Clinic in the Children's Hospital they

treat all babies with cleft lip and palate in Scotland.

It's a service led by nurse specialists.

Is that OK?

Staff nurse Jenny Pettigrew is in contact with parents

within 24 hours of antenatal diagnosis.

It's mostly a shock for the family.

They would never expect cleft lip

when they go for the foetal anomaly scan.

They might worry about other things, but cleft is not

something they ever worry about.

They grieve the loss of the perfect baby.

To help expectant parents and new mums and dads they hold a

bumps and babies day.

It's an opportunity for families to say, "That's how I feel,

"I know exactly how you're feeling, and this is going to be OK."

We don't know much about it. It's our first baby, so...

Just to see real-life babies with clefts.

Hello!

LAUGHTER

'People are expecting to see other children who've had an unrepaired cleft,

'and to see actually they're just children the same as any other child.'

This is Ethan before his operation.

Once we got the cleft team out that reassured us more.

Because initially we were a bit, "Ooh". But now it's just... It's normal.

It's what we're used to. It's him.

Thank you.

Fynn is now 18 weeks old and it's time for the operation to repair

his cleft lip.

Mum Louise is getting Fynn ready with cleft nurse Jenny.

The babies do really very well. It's the parents that are left traumatised.

-I wasn't going to cry.

-It's tough. It's really tough.

He'll thank you for it later.

Will we get you ready?

Will we show Jenny your special outfit?

SHE LAUGHS

-I just think he's lovely the way he is.

-He is lovely.

I don't think she realised just how stressful it was going to be coming in.

Being aware surgery is happening, but it doesn't sink in until you

come into the ward and you sign the consent form.

And that's where it all seems very real.

So it's a really stressful time for both Louise and for Craig, but they're doing really well,

they're coping really well with it.

I think I've been pretty good up to now, to be honest with you,

but I think now it starts to hit home quite quickly. Yeah.

You just have to keep in your head that it's a routine operation.

It's not open-heart surgery. It should be straightforward.

So you have to keep thinking positive about that.

Consultant plastic and cleft surgeon Craig Russell performs

a third of the lip and palate repairs in Scotland.

Given that Fynn has a cleft lip and palate and that is a facial difference,

'that can lead to significant bullying in life.'

So to give Fynn the best possible start and the best possible options

in life is why we offer cleft lip repair.

-That's us.

-Let's go.

-All right.

-You'll do.

FYNN CRIES

SPEECH INDISTINCT

We're going to get him a bit more floppy, OK?

Right, you give him a big kiss and we will take great care of

him and we will have him back to you as soon as possible.

It's a very stressful day. They're giving up their baby, their pride and joy,

for an anaesthetic and operation.

It's a very emotional time for them, so we have the specialist

nurses who are there immediately to support them.

-You just wish you could do it for them.

-I know.

Right, are we good to go?

Fynn is dwarfed by the large surgical team and hi-tech

equipment needed to repair his tiny lip and nose.

'Half millimetres make a big difference.

'We're dealing with a baby who's just 6.4 kilos.

'We've been measuring in millimetres and half

'millimetres to get them as exact as I possibly can.

'Such that, as the baby grows up, there's going to be symmetry

'on both sides of their lip, nose.'

Can I get another double skin hook, please?

'I've got the best job in the world.

'I give children smiles and a voice to talk with.

'I feel very grateful to be able to do what I do.'

Just the PDS at the end of this, that should be us done.

Two-and-a-half hours later the operation is over and Fynn is

reunited with his mum and dad.

We missed you.

Have you been a brave boy? Have you?

It will take a while to heal but, in a few weeks, Fynn should have

a very different smile.

There are 38 operating theatres here,

more than any other hospital in Scotland.

Around 370 operations are performed every week in the adult hospital alone.

And there is one operation which can only be done here.

And only by David Hendry.

He specialises in surgery to treat testicular cancer that

has spread into abdominal lymph glands.

Around 20 are carried out here every year and the next one planned

is for 35-year-old John.

When John was diagnosed his disease had already spread to lymph

glands inside his abdomen and so he required

quite intensive chemotherapy.

I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. I thought that was it.

-It all just happened so fast.

-It was very, very quick.

It was just a shock to the system. How things could change like that.

John's had three rounds of chemotherapy.

But his scans reveal that there might be remaining cancer in

his abdominal lymph glands.

I can see here an abnormality but it's a disease that we don't really

know exactly what it is until it's been removed.

Only when the suspicious tissue is analysed by pathology

will they know if it is active cancer.

If there is some residual cancer there it can relapse very quickly.

It can double in size in seven to ten days and so you need to remove it quickly.

With such a big operation looming John and Leanne try to keep

things as normal as possible for their daughters Elia and Breanna.

When I was diagnosed that was one of the things that went through my head.

They're going to be without a father.

Who's going to look after them? Who's going to look after Leanne?

Things like that go through your head.

'The youngest one, she's fine with it, but it's the eldest one,

'she'll have her days where she'll just break down about it because she

'just thought, "My daddy's got this, my daddy's going to die."'

Time just seems to drag, doesn't it?

I know. Hopefully get this beast out of me and that's it.

Next door in the Children's Hospital another patient is dealing

with the devastating effects of cancer.

Just a week away from his planned stem-cell transplant, Connor has collapsed.

The chemotherapy has weakened his immune system and

has left him vulnerable to infection.

'I've never felt so scared in my life.

'I didn't even feel as scared when I got told Connor had cancer.'

Can you straighten your arm?

Can I have this...? No, this one.

Can I have this arm?

'It is quite a high level of support he's getting at the moment.

'He's on a ventilator.'

He has got some sedation on board.

He's got some medications to help with brain swelling

and really the function of the brain as well.

'There's only so much swelling that the brain will take before it is

'irreversibly damaged.'

Connor's collapse has been caused by a well-known virus.

It was the chickenpox virus but in Connor it did something that it

can do but it doesn't usually do, and it got into his brain and it

caused a reaction in his brain, which is why he became so unwell so quickly.

This is a worrying setback as they have to stop the chemotherapy

while Connor is treated for this life-threatening infection.

But all the time he's getting better, we are worried that could

this be the window of opportunity for his leukaemia to come back?

John's surgery to remove diseased lymph glands is on schedule.

At an anticipated seven hours it is one of the longest operations

carried out in the hospital.

This is just a scan, as if you were cut straight up and down the

middle, looking on from the side.

So we can see the bones of the spine here, spinal cord lies in here.

And this is the main artery,

the aorta bringing all the blood to the tissues.

And this mass on the front of it is the abnormal lymph glands

sticking to the front of the main artery.

And so this is the main thing we need to remove but we will

remove all the lymph glands in this area.

David Hendry plays music to help him concentrate during surgery.

I have a playlist for different operations and this is quite

a long playlist because it might be quite a long operation.

MUSIC PLAYS

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

'There's a number of things make it potentially difficult surgery.'

One is the access because the lymph glands are right at the back

of the abdomen behind all of the intestine.

The second thing is they can often be stuck to the main blood

vessels and it can be very difficult to separate them off and you

can sometimes get the risk of very significant bleeding.

'If you get bleeding from the main artery or main vein in

'the body it tends to be dramatic and because there is

'so much blood flowing through those main blood vessels it can

'be difficult to control that.

'And if you were to get significant bleeding that, in itself, could be

'life-threatening.'

An hour into the operation, while separating off the tumour,

the main vein tears.

I can see it now. We need a bit more space.

It's a lot of bleeding. So can we page the vascular?

David Hendry has control of the bleed but only by keeping

his finger pressed on the vein.

If he let go John could bleed to death in just ten minutes.

Vascular surgeon Keith Hussey arrives within minutes from the

operating theatre he was working in nearby.

It's a small branch in front of the cava that needs repaired.

How is he physiologically just now?

MACHINE WHIRS

SPEECH INDISTINCT

Clip, please. Cheers.

'If there's a problem you're aware that, in the very unlikely

'event things go really badly, you will be leaving young children with

'no father and that's just an extra pressure at the back of your mind.'

John's life is in skilled hands. But they need to repair the vein quickly.

The expertise that the hospital has on one site can save lives.

Even before birth.

Next door, the Children's Hospital brings specialisms together.

Foetal medicine, maternity, and both newborn and children's

intensive care units are all on one site.

The state-of-the-art paediatric intensive care unit is where

some of the sickest children in Scotland are cared for.

1,100 little patients a year get one-to-one round-the-clock

nursing care.

And all the specialisms are close at hand.

Most children stay for an average of two-and-a-half days,

but Calla from Aberdeen holds the record.

Fasten our seatbelts.

She's been in intensive care for 362 days. All her life.

Do you want a little bit of mango? It's coming.

MACHINE BEEPS

Are you getting excited over this food? Uh-huh.

She was born in the maternity unit, and so complex and rare are

her medical issues, she has never left the hospital.

She's come so far over this last year from being so ill on

so many days, to a baby that's able to sit and eat purees.

It's just beautiful.

Yeah, that's a lovely smile.

First-time mum Lynne has left her home and family in Aberdeen

so she can be with Calla all the time, while dad Ally works abroad

and is only home one week in four.

Their dream is for Calla to spend her first birthday

out of the hospital.

I would just love to be able to get her to experience the outside world.

I think we've spent the last year, from a neo-natal intensive care unit

'to a paediatric intensive care unit, and to be able to

'experience what's beyond the window I think would be lovely for her.'

What can we see out here?

Sometimes, when we're sitting playing, we'll sit near the window

and she just looks out with utter amazement,

"There's something else out there, Mummy, it's bright out there."

So it would just be a real privilege to be able to take her

for a walk in a pram, or get her outside the walls of the hospital.

Paediatric consultant Mark Davidson has been looking after Calla

since she has been in Intensive Care.

Calla was born with quite a few problems.

Hello...

There's nowhere else in Scotland that could have done

everything that we've done.

We've got a big, busy Intensive Care Unit

and within that intensive care, we can tap into cardiac surgeons.

She's needed a heart operation.

We can tap into the ear, nose and throat surgeons.

She's needed multiple procedures by them.

She's needed complex general surgical input, so they are here.

The ophthalmologist, the audiologist,

the physiotherapist, the neurodevelopmental team,

the dieticians, so, you know, it's a massive team that's working

behind the scenes, to a great extent.

During Calla's journey, there were several times where we didn't

think Calla was going to make it.

And that was really challenging for Lynne and Ally...

..as well as the extended team.

And there were times when we weren't sure what the right thing

to do was, and there was lots of soul-searching going on in the team.

And Lynne and Ally are part of that team.

So, I suppose, like a lot of kids,

she's astounded us to get to where she is, which is fantastic.

Today, Calla is going to break free from the hospital.

The family will have a weekend of respite care near Loch Lomond,

in time for her first birthday.

One pram. One, two, three, four, five, six boxes.

OK. The main thing is that we've got all her medications,

everything that will keep her going.

Everything for the ventilator for night-time,

and oxygen supplies to keep this one breathing.

I can't wait to get going, so I just want my husband to get here.

I want his plane to not be delayed,

although it's currently 30 minutes delayed.

And then

we'll be able to get off for our first little exciting trip.

Hello.

Have you had a good sleep?

There is no doubt that Calla is benefiting from the expertise

at Glasgow's superhospital.

The downside is the family being so far from home.

So excited.

I mean, we've never been in the same place for a family photograph,

it's always one in, one out, two in at the bedside.

My mum and dad haven't really seen my brother hold her,

or that kind of way, so for people to all be in the same place

at the same time is going to be really nice.

Calla's dad Ally has come straight from the airport.

Hiya, Calla.

It's really difficult to be away, obviously,

but it's great to come back.

But when I'm away, I'm always thinking about them

and praying for them, and everything,

but we've waited for such a long time and had despair

and we've had upset, and every day is a little battle for Calla,

and it's a complete victory and we're so thankful.

Calla has survived several major operations,

and every day she is beating the odds.

Calla has something called Ohtahara syndrome.

It's a life-limiting illness.

We need to make whatever life Calla has the best possible,

which is why there's no point in staying in Intensive Care.

Her condition is a rare form of epilepsy which will reduce

her life expectancy,

so time is precious.

No-one knows how long they've got on this Earth.

We can't live expecting it or in fear of it.

I don't think we've ever really been told years, have we?

Kind of?

You know, we don't know.

We need to live and give Calla a good quality of life,

and that is the future.

Along with Calla's first birthday, there are many other firsts.

She has never been in a pram.

-How's that?

-No...

-Oh, there's a smile.

We were told that Calla might never smile, but we get some really

beautiful smiles and little giggles from her, so it's really good.

I've never taken you more than a metre from the bed!

Hey. Where are we off to?

She's just fantastic.

-A little superstar. Super Calla!

-Super Calla.

LYNNE LAUGHS

It's taken a lot of planning, but at last they're on their way.

You can wave.

-Yeah.

-Bye!

-Bye!

She's made it.

Calla leaves the hospital for the first time in her life.

Are you ready for this, puppy?

This is called cold air.

This is the big, bad world.

This is it. We did it!

Yay!

This is the first time, and just amazing, you know?

You can't describe how amazing it is, to be honest.

Next door, in the adult hospital,

in Theatre 3...

..John has had a significant bleed from his main vein.

The surgical team are battling to get it under control.

It was concerning because the tumour was so close to where the

bleeding was, and then when my vascular colleague came along,

he was able to control the bleeding

till I separated off more of the tumour,

so we made the space to be able to safely repair it.

Now the surgery to remove the tumour that caused the bleed

and all the surrounding lymph glands can continue.

This is the main part of the tumour out.

The lymph nodes here, here and in here.

After seven hours operating on John,

David Hendry has removed all the diseased lymph glands,

and they are sent to Pathology.

Hello. Is that Leanne? Hi, it's David Hendry here.

So, it is just to say that that's us finished.

It was quite difficult.

It took us a little bit longer than I was expecting.

And that's the worst bit over now,

because that's the most dangerous thing, the operation itself,

and that's that over, and he's nice and stable and out in Recovery.

PHONE RINGS

HDU3, Maria Barry speaking. How can I help?

John is now in the High Dependency Unit to be closely monitored.

He has to wait for two weeks to find out if there is active cancer

in any of the lymph glands that have been removed.

Connor has been critically ill for two weeks.

He has been in the Intensive Care Unit receiving 24-hour care.

I was terrified. I genuinely thought I was losing him.

I actually thought I was losing my son.

He has been kept under sedation to protect his brain function while

high doses of anti-viral medication have fought the chickenpox virus.

I don't remember anything, to be honest.

It doesn't matter that you can't remember.

It's not a stress that you can't remember anything.

I think maybe the last 14 years days,

it's probably good that you can't remember.

So don't worry about it at all.

Today, he is out of danger and well enough to go back to the ward.

He has overcome so much in the last 14 days.

He's an absolute trooper.

He really, really, really is made of strong stuff.

It's good to have you back.

He can now tolerate his maintenance chemotherapy,

but Connor's body is too weak to withstand the stem-cell transplant,

so it has been postponed.

We need to build him up physically, because he's lost a lot of weight.

We need to support him psychologically,

because this has been a huge setback to him.

But we need to just get straight back on to working towards

ensuring his leukaemia remains under control, to move forward

for the transplant because, ultimately,

we are trying to cure Connor.

For now, Connor must spend time building up his strength in

the Teenage Cancer Unit...

with a few visitors - Still Game - to help him on his way.

Would it be OK if I could get an autograph for my friends?

-Sure.

-Aye!

-Nah, nah. I am drawing the line at that.

-Just for two friends.

-Two friends?

If we put it on the same one and they fall out,

-you're going to have to rip it in two.

-Aye.

I see people five, ten, 15, 20 years following their treatment,

so you keep that in your mind, because many people have been

through very difficult situations, like Connor's going through

at the moment, and they've made it through,

and they're able to be in a position of looking back.

Two weeks after John's surgery to remove his abnormal lymph glands,

David Hendry has the results from the pathology tests.

Undoubtedly, it was very important that John have this removed.

Of the 34 glands removed from his abdomen, most were benign

but two contained active cancer.

We've obviously had to do difficult treatment for John,

all the chemotherapy and major surgery, but that has been worth it.

The disease is out.

So we still feel he's got a good long-term chance of cure,

well over 90%.

The operation may have finally got rid of John's fast-spreading cancer.

The beast has gone.

And hopefully the beast stays away.

100% in having the operation, definitely.

It was definitely... It was worthwhile doing.

The things I'm looking forward to the most

is to get back to everyday life,

spending time with family and friends,

and living life to the full.

Since it opened two years ago, Scotland's biggest hospital

has witnessed the transformation of lives every day,

through the thousands of patients who pass through its doors.

Following his road accident,

George spent four weeks working hard to get on his feet again...

-You did it.

-Thanks, guys.

Agh... I couldn't have done it without yous.

..and is now heading home.

Fynn's operation to repair his cleft lip has given him a brand-new smile.

Look at your gorgeous smile!

Lynne, Ally and Calla finally got to spend time

outside Intensive Care.

The birthday break was a huge success,

and now Calla is living at home in Aberdeen.

There we go! Does it feel a bit fresh out here?

And there is good news for Connor.

After building up his strength at home...

-Look at him!

-You look amazing.

..he's back on track to get his stem-cell transplant in six weeks.

I'll give you a hug.

-Aw...

-Yay!

-Thanks.

The doctors are happy, putting on weight, loads of family time,

so I'm surprised about everything that's gone on. It's all...

It's looking up.