Episode 5 Secret Life of the Hospital Bed

-Hand versus chainsaw.

-It looks painful.

Our hospitals are taking care of more patients than ever...

-You all right?

-No.

-Aw, poppet.

-HE WHIMPERS

..with medical teams under constant pressure...

Can Dr Pizzey come to resus, please?

If somebody is as poorly as this little one,

we really need to treat them quickly.

..to meet our expectations.

I'm just worried about what it's going to be like afterwards.

But there's a crucial member of the team we sometimes forget.

I've never, ever been on a bed like this.

The hospital bed.

Another ward, another story, another bed.

SHE SHRIEKS

In our lifetimes,

we are likely to need one of them at least three times.

I've probably spent a quarter of my life on a hospital bed.

In this series, our cameras have been given unprecedented access

to beds in four very different hospitals across the country.

It's life. Life and death and everything that goes in-between.

-We'll see the world through the bed's eyes...

-Hello, my love. Hiya.

..as they share the most challenging...

I don't know what to do. I don't know.

..most intimate...

I know.

-..and most rewarding...

-Happy birthday!

Aren't hospitals wonderful?

-..moments of our lives.

-Thank you for being here.

I wouldn't be anywhere else.

A hospital cannot function without beds. Beds are vital.

This is The Secret Life Of The Hospital Bed.

Birmingham, with a population of over a million.

The city's biggest hospital is the Queen Elizabeth,

which opened just six years ago.

One of its new state-of-the-art units is Day Surgery.

More than 25,000 patients pass through its beds each year.

Bed 32. It's one of more than 80 beds in Day Surgery.

-Have you had any falls recently? Fallen down?

-No.

67-year-old farmer Stephen is here with his wife, Patricia.

He needs a heart investigation ahead of much-needed surgery on his leg.

Stephen currently relies on crutches to get around

and hopes an operation will help him walk again.

-The end of May, beginning of June.

-You were OK.

Yeah, at that time,

I could get on and off the tractors, no problem at all.

Within three months, I can't get on the tractors.

Just can't carry things. If I want to get myself a cup of tea, I can't.

If I want to take my stuff upstairs, I can't.

I just can't do it.

Stephen's been waiting for his leg operation for two months

but he has symptoms of angina.

-Have you had any heart attacks in the past?

-No.

The surgery can only go ahead

if his heart is strong enough to withstand it.

Do you get breathless when you're lying down?

-Short of breath?

-Sometimes, yeah.

-Sometimes.

Dr Akwe is looking after Stephen while he's on the ward.

So, we shall be giving you some medication to make you sleepy.

-Happy days.

-Yes.

-THEY LAUGH

You'll be awake...

I've already got the morphine on board so I'm well away.

That's good.

-So it will be passing along the flexible tube...

-Yep.

-..through the radial artery...

-Yep.

..and then taking a check of the artery,

-the vessel supplying your heart muscles.

-OK.

What it does is it tells us whether any of the vessels,

arteries around your heart is blocked,

-and if this is a result of the angina you are experiencing.

-Yeah.

-You just want to go to sleep, don't you?

-Yeah. I'm just whacked.

Stephen and Patricia have been married for 24 years

and have five children between them.

They own a smallholding in Shropshire.

Stephen's leg problem is making it difficult to keep the farm going.

He's had to keep reducing his expectations, if you like,

of what he can do.

And at the moment, what he can do is virtually nothing.

You know, with two crutches, as he said,

he can't even make a cup of tea now for himself.

If he can get better and be mobile,

he will be so much happier in himself.

I'm going to pop a needle in.

Nurse Geraghty has worked on the ward for just two months.

She prepares Stephen for his angiogram.

Oh, my God. I don't do needles.

You don't faint, do you? You're not...

No, I don't faint. I just don't like them.

He sticks them in our cat, you're all right. It's not a problem.

Sometimes the big ones don't like to be touched.

Gives us a problem.

-Is that a kind of chat-up line?

-No!

-SHE LAUGHS

-I need to concentrate!

-Sorry! Sorry!

-Shh!

-OK.

-You all right?

-Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't do needles.

-I'm talking about this man!

-THEY LAUGH

I've come for your blood sugar, if that's all right.

Oh, right, yeah. Which part do you want?

Just the finger...

That'll be all right.

Although the medical staff may come and go, bed 32 will be with Stephen

in the ward, into surgery and back to recovery.

-OK. See you later.

-Okey dokey.

See you shortly.

It's stressful.

Hoping his heart problem is not too bad,

can be controlled with medication,

so the leg operation is now all dependent on today's results.

Newcastle, the busiest city in the north-east of England.

The Great North Children's Hospital is one of the biggest

paediatric units in the UK, with its own A&E.

Hey, it's Claire, I'm paeds coordinator. Oh, hello.

The person in charge of the ward today is Sister Jackson.

Yeah, Laura, I need to find a bed on long stay for that patient.

OK, thanks, love. Bye.

Beds - within A&E, I have got six cubicles,

three monitored beds and two resus beds.

But we have a lot more patients than that.

I think it averages about 100, 110 patients a day.

Our busiest time tends to be kind of after four o'clock,

when everyone's finished school and everyone piles in.

Hello. Paeds A&E.

Bed 27 is standing by for its next young patient.

Come and have a seat. You sit on the bed, sweetheart.

It's early afternoon and 12-year-old Daniel has arrived

just ahead of today's after-school rush.

He's been brought in by his mum Hilary

who works at the hospital as a health care assistant.

So, why are you here today? What's been happening?

Me and me friends were playing football on a MUGA

and then I fell over and then one of my friends

either jumped or fell on top of me

-and I could, like, feel a sudden crack in my wrist.

-Right.

I'll let the doctor know you're here, OK?

For now, it's just Daniel, his mum and bed 27.

-On the bright side, this bed's comfy.

-Have a chill-out then.

-Do you think I'm going to be all right, Mum?

-Of course you will.

'He does try hard at school.

'Daniel would like to go to university when he's older

'so he has been told he has to work hard to get there.'

I use my right hand for writing and this could affect my work

an awful lot at school. I might not get as high levels that I want.

It's actually dead comfortable.

Even though Daniel's mum works at the hospital,

she still never got to grips with the beds.

I can't work the beds. Never managed to work them.

I'm not very good at pushing beds either, or putting them up or down.

So if you do get a bed, don't let me near the controls.

You'll end up with more than a broken wrist, wouldn't you?

Hopefully it's not broken.

Just got a text.

-Hello, is it Daniel?

-Yes, it is.

Nurse practitioners work alongside doctors here examining patients.

Senior nurse practitioner Rayne will assess Daniel's arm.

What I'm going to do, I'm just going to have a little look around,

OK, a little feel around and when I ask you questions,

if you can just give me a little answer.

-Now, have you got any pain up in your elbow?

-No.

-What about up this upper arm?

-No.

Now, just along your forearm.

Just tell me when...if that starts to hurt.

There? Yeah, OK.

So, what we'll do, I'll pop your sling back on and then we'll get

you round to X-ray and get some pictures taken. Are you all right?

-No.

-Oh, poppet.

-HE WHINES

Sweetheart.

-It's all right though.

-Are you sure?

Does it just hurt with it being fiddled with?

-Yeah.

-Just really sore.

I'll go and sort out medicine and then X-ray.

Lovely, thank you.

The first time in hospital can be tough for anyone,

especially a child.

If I have to have an operation, will they knock me out?

You don't need to worry about that yet. It might not need an operation.

Right?

In bed 27, all Daniel can do is wait.

The emergency department at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary

is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Senior Sister Amos is in charge of coordinating the unit today.

She has worked in A&E for the last 20 years.

When you get up in the morning and come in to work,

you've got no idea what your day is going to hold.

Just be careful, please, because he's...

Yeah, just let him do what he wants to do. Yeah.

Just get security.

Is he lying on the floor? Just get security to come down.

It's her job to find beds for patients and move them on.

You're in charge of the patient flow,

constantly moving patients from bed to bed and onto different areas,

depending on what they need.

Sometimes from beds to wards,

sometimes from bed to home, which is always good.

-Thank you.

-You're very welcome.

There's quite a lot of stuff on the television

about people being on trolleys for 12 hours,

being on corridors, and the way to kind of address that

was to adapt what they call the four-hour breach

so any patient that's been in the department for any more

than four hours, you have to give a reason for.

That guy's been discharged now. He's got an outpatient appointment.

Champion.

It's just after lunchtime.

The first person to face the four-hour target in bed nine

is former model agent Liz, who fears she's broken her ribs.

Liz, who's 78, fell over while vacuuming

and has been awake all night with the pain.

Will you put my legs up cos it's hurting there?

Oh, oh, oh. Right.

-Oh!

-Are you comfortable there?

-Hm?

-Are you comfortable there?

-Oh, yeah.

Lovely. I still think I've cracked a bone little in there. And there.

-It's very painful, is it?

-Really hurting.

-Hello, you.

-Hello there.

-Hello, you.

-Hello.

Liz has seen consultant Mr Connelly previously here at A&E.

You like us here, do you? What happened this time?

I ran into the music room, tripped over the vacuum,

smashed into his desk, right on the corner, stuck in there.

-Right to the front of your chest?

-It stuck in there.

-Is this the territory here?

-Aargh!

-Sorry. OK.

If you just take a slow breath in for me.

Just... And stop when it hurts.

When you do that, what sort of pain level is it?

If 10 is the worst pain you can imagine,

what do you get when you try and breathe?

-Nine.

-At a nine, OK.

-Yeah.

You may not like me for the next bit, but would you just put

your hand where you're sore and try and have a cough?

You don't want to, do you? That's OK.

-OK, listen, we'll get you painkillers first, OK?

-Yes.

So don't go running off anywhere.

What we really need to do is get on top of the pain first.

Having done that, we'll go back and have another little look.

There's no signs that she's bleeding heavily

so we'll scan her chest but then we'll move forward and get

some x-rays as well and just see what damage she's done.

Liz and husband Max, who's a retired musician,

have been together for 50 years

although they almost didn't get together at all.

I stood him up the first time.

MAX LAUGHS

-He thinks you've cracked your breastbone.

-I think I have.

Liz is a woman who's used to being taken care of.

I'm spoilt. Get me good coat and I'll get me diamonds.

As you can see.

-Did you say you were going on any holidays?

-Yes.

-November.

Where are you heading to?

-We're going to Barbados.

-Barbados.

-Very nice.

Liz gets a dose of morphine and Mr Connelly starts to investigate

with an ultrasound scan.

Get my fancy toys out first.

First, we're going to take a quick look at your lungs

and see what's going on there.

This just gives a very quick view.

Can you see? That's a lung there.

See the little white thing coming out? That's moving nicely.

You haven't popped your lung.

Most important then, I want to have a little look at your heart.

There's no blood around there.

Despite her fears, this scan reveals

no obvious damage to Liz's heart or lungs.

I think if it had been a little bit further over,

it would have punctured my heart.

-I don't know.

-Because my heart's just there.

The medical team want to check if Liz has any other injuries.

Bed nine makes the journey to the X-ray department.

Need some x-rays of your ribs, your breastbone and your upper back, OK?

-Can I pop your necklace off?

-Yes. Yes.

Liz has been in bed nine for an hour and 15 minutes.

Her diamond necklace has to come off because metal can interfere

with an X-ray and block anything behind it.

If you look at the x-rays, there isn't anything dramatic

but I don't think the plain x-rays are telling the full story.

We're going to get some better imaging,

as in a CT scan, to better elucidate exactly what the injuries are.

Enjoy your holiday. You're very brown. Have you already been away?

-No. At Darras Hall, you get all the sun there.

-Is that what it is?

I just live in the wrong place, obviously.

Liz has two and a half hours left on bed nine

if staff are to meet the four-hour NHS target.

But the results of her X-ray remain inconclusive.

-More tests are needed.

-I've got to ask you,

-is the bed comfortable there?

-Lovely. Absolutely lovely, this bed.

-I'm going to take it home with us?

-Are you?

-I'm just dying for some kippers.

-Kippers?

-But he won't let me cook fish in the house.

-Really?

-No.

The smell lingers.

In a short while, Liz will be taken for a CT scan.

She's hoping it might reveal the cause of her intense pain.

-And it's not her only worry.

-She hasn't got my thing on there.

She took it off. The diamond's gone.

Is it there?

I'll have a little look for you, cos you could be sitting on it.

-Aha! I've got it. I've just seen it.

-You've got it?

-Yes. I've got it.

I'll put your necklace on with the solitaire on, all right,

so you don't lose it.

Diamonds found and all is well with Liz's jewellery,

but doctors still need to find the source of her pain.

-At least we got that back for you.

-Yes.

-Thanks, my darling. Thank you.

What a nice girl she is.

Ow!

Hello. Paeds A&E, Becky speaking.

In Newcastle's Great North Children's Hospital,

bed 27 has been with 12-year-old Daniel for over an hour.

He came into paediatric A&E with his mum Hilary after falling over

in the school playground.

He needs an X-ray to find out if his arm is broken.

This is one of the biggest children's hospitals in the country

and these beds are the most comfortable way to get around.

You're thoroughly enjoying yourself!

-I'm really worried about the X-ray.

-Don't worry about it.

I'll probably scream if they try to take my hand out.

They're not going to deliberately make it sore, sweetheart. All right?

-You're big and brave and you'll be fine.

-We'll take you in now.

I'm just a bit upset when he's in pain,

because I know he'll be well looked after, I just think I'm more

nervous for him in case he has broken it and because he's in pain.

Argh! Ah!

-All right, you're doing fine.

-HE WHIMPERS

When you're a mum, I think, you know,

you wish it was you rather than them.

Mum has to wait outside but Daniel and bed 27

are together throughout the X-ray.

-HE WHINES

-All right, my darling. Well done.

-All right? Did it hurt?

-It hurt like hell.

It hurt like hell. Aw, come here.

Messing your hair up.

They straightened my wrist up and everything.

-It hurt.

-Did it?

-Shh, shh, shh.

-HE WHIMPERS INCOHERENTLY

Have you got a tissue?

Daniel is back in his room.

It's my birthday in 12 days.

Yeah.

I never knew I was going to have a birthday with a cast on.

I think it will be a bit harder because, like,

I would only be able to open presents with one hand.

Fingers crossed, everything crossed, that it can just have a cast on it.

-Is it Daniel?

-Orthopaedic specialist Dr Rushton has Daniel's results.

I'm one of the bone doctors. Shall we shake hands? Nice to meet you.

Right. You've broken your wrist, unfortunately,

when you had this fall.

It's fractured through there and just comes out through the side

and it's moved into a slightly bad position

so I think what we need to do today is pop a nice little cast on

to make you a lot more comfortable and I think tomorrow,

we will need to get you off to sleep

and move the bone into a better position and put a cast on.

-So, is that like an operation?

-It is, yeah.

-All right.

It's painkillers and a cast for Daniel.

He's going home to his own bed tonight

but he'll be back tomorrow for surgery on his arm.

I'm still quite concerned but the doctor has explained it more

so that I'm about 40% less concerned.

One thing is I'm definitely in a lot less pain.

Daniel's been extremely brave today.

I'm very proud of how he's behaved.

He's been... For being in so much pain, he's been exceptional.

I think he's more concerned

that he can't give his little sister a cuddle.

Bed 27 is ready for its next young patient.

The A&E Department of Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Bed nine has been with 78-year-old Liz for nearly three hours.

Liz hurt herself while cleaning at home.

X-rays have proved inconclusive.

Her hope now is that a CT scan will reveal more.

It doesn't.

It's especially busy in A&E today.

There's no room left on the unit

so Liz and bed nine are moved to the corridor.

-Do you want a burger?

-And chips.

-Chips.

-But make sure they don't put any sauces on.

-No cheese at all?

-Right. I'll see you later.

-Don't be long, mind. I'm starving.

-Right.

-See you later.

-Ta-ra.

Mr Connelly is back to update Liz on her next course of treatment.

Forget about whether there's a crack or whether there's a subtle crack,

you're in a lot of pain. You seem to be a bit better

but you agree with me that we get you in at least overnight,

even a day or two, until we're happy the pain is well away. OK.

-Thank you ever so much.

-Good. No problem at all. You take care.

-Thank you.

-I think the risk is if we leave her alone for more than

a few days, I think she'd end up in a chest infection because

she won't be able to breathe or cough effectively.

So until we're happy that she's breathing and coughing effectively,

we'll admit her for analgesic reasons.

After a wait in the corridor,

Liz is finally on her way to an overnight ward.

-How're you doing?

-All right, thanks.

-It's Elizabeth, yeah?

-Yes.

-Hi, Elizabeth.

Carry on. Just press the button and I'll pull.

The other bed was better!

It's been so busy in A&E,

bed nine is 45 minutes over the NHS target time.

It's now needed for another patient.

There are 44 beds in the Royal Victoria Hospital's A&E department.

Each bed sees many patients every day.

And for bed nine, it's proving a busy time.

Next patient is 40-year-old chef Turan.

He's agitated and keeps leaving the room.

-You know where you're going, don't you?

-This room.

-That room there.

-You OK?

-I'm not OK.

-I know you're not OK.

-What's the matter?

-Turan has come into A&E with head and neck pain.

He says he was beaten up.

Looking after bed nine is Health Care Assistant Little.

The team don't know if Turan's shortness of breath

is down to his injuries.

OK. Right. Nice deep breaths.

OK, you're going to be seen by the doctor very, very shortly

so just try and calm down, all right? Right.

Health Care Assistant Little finally persuades Turan to lie on the bed

but instead of waiting for a doctor, he gets up again.

-Straight away upstairs and come back.

-Right. OK, that's fine.

'I know it's my motto when I come to work is to get on with people.'

Just sit there. Turan. Just sit there.

'Obviously, it's a traumatic incident that he suffered'

so you could see clearly see that something has happened.

He's shaking, visibly shaking.

Obviously, I may not be a medical person but I can talk to people

and hopefully calm them down...

Do you want another drink of water?

'..which in itself, if they are calm, they will respond better to'

what the doctor says and any medication that they're given.

Whilst Health Care Assistant Little is called to another patient,

Turan tries to leave again but the doctor stops him in his tracks.

Right, what we need to do, because you got hurt quite a lot,

we need to fix your neck and we need to put these blocks

either side of your head. Yep.

We're just going to lie you back.

-Pop this underneath.

-I cannot breathe.

-Yes, you can.

-You can, darling.

-Don't worry.

-Try and relax.

-No, no.

-Keep your neck still.

-Yeah, OK.

If you've injured your neck, you will injure it even more.

-The neck brace has made Turan more agitated.

-No.

I'll get Peter.

Dr Lang Ping Nam has drafted in colleague Dr Land to help.

Hello there, you all right? How are you doing?

You're not a big fan of the collar.

Shall we take...?

I think this is probably going to cause more problems than it solves.

Thank you very much.

They can sometimes make you feel a bit claustrophobic.

Sometimes we need to keep people's heads completely still

in case they've broken their neck but you are moving around.

I don't think you will have done because you're moving around nicely

but we'll get some x-rays just to make sure.

It's becoming clear that there's more to Turan's condition

than just his obvious injuries.

Calm down. Calm down.

-I don't know what to do. I don't know.

-What to do about what?

-I'm on about the drink.

-Right.

-For sure.

-Right.

So you think you've got a drink problem, then?

I've got a drink problem.

Right.

Turan has been on and off bed nine in A&E for an hour and a half.

How long it going to take? Half an hour, 20 minutes?

-Five minutes?

-It depends how busy the radiography department is.

-Just hang on here for now.

-I just need to take fresh air again.

-Right.

Doctors still need to find out the extent of Turan's injuries.

But staff are concerned he's so worked up

he'll leave before having crucial tests.

This is resus,

a unit in A&E where seriously ill and injured patients receive

potentially life-saving treatment.

Can I have a look in your eyes?

The beds here see around 1,000 patients a year.

In the resus area, we have six beds, four designated for adults,

two designated for kids.

It's obviously really important

that we always have a few that are empty all the time

because you never know what's going to come through the door

so the turnover and the turnaround for them can be quite quick.

This is resus bed two, prepped and ready for its next critical patient.

Another emergency.

An unidentified and unconscious woman

has been rushed in by ambulance.

She has been drinking.

Staff Nurse Griffiths is trying to bring her round.

Hello! Hello!

Open your eyes for me.

What background have we got? Does anyone know the story?

Found collapsed in the street. No identification.

-That's about the story we've got.

-OK.

Dr Attwood is the consultant in charge of the shift.

Hello, my love. Hiya. Hello there.

Hello.

Oh, she's vomiting, isn't she? Get some bloods off her.

Get a little bit of fluid up on her, bang a tube in.

-The main thing is GCS is three, basically.

-Fine, OK.

The GCS tells the team how conscious a patient is.

This unidentified woman has the lowest possible score of just three.

'My main concern with this lady is that she's fallen,

'known to have alcohol excess and that she might have a head injury'

which is what has caused her coma scale to be quite markedly reduced.

She's not responding really to anything, apart from a bit of pain.

The unidentified woman may have a bleed on the brain.

Dr Attwood calls in anaesthetist Dr Cummings.

-Is she? OK.

-Hello.

Hello. Can you open your eyes? Open your eyes for me.

An anaesthetic is given to help stabilise the patient.

The paramedic who brought the woman in returns.

The team are hoping he'll be able to provide more information about her injuries.

-Hello.

-Hi. Yeah.

So, tell me what you found when you were with her.

-Right, this lady was...

-Where was she?

-..was seen staggering along...

-Give us two seconds, give us two minutes.

If you hover.

Just hang fire and I can get a bit of history off you if that's OK?

-Yeah, not a problem.

-Just get the tube in.

OK, so tell me what happened.

So, this lady was seen staggering along the street.

-Do you know who she is? Any details?

-We don't.

We don't know anything about this lady at all.

Some workmen found her about an hour later,

slumped in someone's front garden.

She had three full bottles and a three-quarter one that she's drank.

-Of what?

-Of pinot "giroir."

-OK, so wine.

-Good quality wine.

-Grigio.

-Grigio! Grigio.

-Nah, it's giroir.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Any obvious signs of any injuries anywhere at all?

-No.

-No injuries at all. She was quite hypothermic.

-She was cold.

-She was 34/4. I got her cannulated.

-That's great. Thank you for that.

Cheers. BP is cooking up there at 57 on the screen.

If the unidentified woman has a bleed on the brain,

her condition could quickly deteriorate.

Dr Attwood calls for a CT scan.

Hi. It's Laura in A&E. Hiya.

We just had a sort of trauma lady come in who we're going to do a CT

head and neck on if that's OK? We don't have a name. Female unknown.

Are you free for us to come round

to check she's not got a bleed in her head?

Can we put her up the list a little bit further?

Dr Attwood manages to push her patient up the queue

but there's still a wait.

Right. OK, no problem. Cheers, bye. 20 minutes, he said.

The results of a CT scan could provide some of the answers

they're looking for, especially as they have

no other information about their patient.

We don't really get a lot of unknown patients.

It's usually fairly easy to solve if you have

a wallet or some belongings we can find.

If not, we have to get the police involved to then do some checks.

It's pretty rough, isn't it? You get used to it.

It's really sad and it's not that we don't care,

it's just that we have a job to do.

We've immobilised her neck just in case she's fallen and hit her head.

Temperature of 34.9. Otherwise reasonably stable.

It's 58 minutes since resus bed nine received its latest patient.

Now they'll both make the short journey to the CT scan.

There's no obvious head injury on the CT that I can see.

The scan has shown no signs of a bleed on the brain.

It means the unidentified patient can be moved to the critical care

unit for observation, parting company with resus bed nine.

She's gone to ITU where they will look after her now

and we may or may not hear what happens to her, to be honest.

Often they go to ITU and that's the last we hear and we carry on.

It's how it works in A&E.

You see people for a very short space of time

and then they leave and that's it and you see the next person.

I don't know what's going to come back in onto that next bed.

Somebody's little kid might be just playing on it next

and they don't know what's just happened on that bed.

It happens a lot.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

In day surgery,

bed 32 has taken 67-year-old Stephen for his angiogram.

He needs an operation on his legs to help him walk unaided.

The angiogram will determine if his heart

is strong enough to cope with the surgery.

Around 1,000 angiograms a year are carried out here.

Consultant Cardiologist Professor Townend is doing Stephen's.

We're just going to do an angiogram so we're going to put

a little bit of local anaesthetic in a tube in his right wrist

and then through that tube, once it's in place,

we'll pass the other tube that goes up the arm

to the heart and we can take the pictures.

Steve, that medication is just going in now,

that will help relax you, OK?

Is that all right?

Just take a big breath in for me, sir, and hold it.

Stephen's wife Patricia is waiting in another part of the hospital.

If he can get better and be mobile,

he will be so much happier in himself.

He can't cope at the moment with no mobility.

That's a struggle. Yeah.

Everything crossed. Absolutely everything crossed.

Bed 32 and Stephen are back.

-Hello.

-Hi. Thank you.

-You look quite sprightly.

-I am.

-You had a nice little power nap, didn't you?

-I did, yeah.

-Went out like a light.

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-He was tired.

He was up early this morning.

-Hello.

-Hello. How are you doing?

-Fine, thank you.

-How is that wrist?

Professor Townend, who carried out the angiogram,

has Stephen's results.

The important bit is what we found today,

which is that your arteries are minimally irregular.

There's some slight bits of furring up

but nothing that's causing any blockage to blood flow.

-Nothing that would cause chest pain.

-No.

-Wow.

-Really good news.

-Excellent.

-So he's got his MOT, then?

-Pretty much.

-Good for another 5,000 miles.

-Excellent. Excellent.

As long as I've got two legs to do the 5,000 miles on.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

It's the news they've been hoping for.

Stephen's leg operation can go ahead.

-No need to get upset about it. I don't get upset.

-I know you don't.

Don't worry about it.

Once I knew that the heart problem

wasn't going to stop the leg operation,

it was just a massive relief,

but you don't actually realise how tense you are

until you get that person saying it's OK.

A few tears of happiness, yes.

'And now we can look forward to the next one.'

-Cheers.

-Bye.

Thank you very much for your help. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Bed 32's work for today is over.

Stephen and Patricia head back to their small farm in the hope

he'll soon be able to walk again.

Back in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary

it's a rare sight in A&E - bed nine is empty.

Its patient, Turan, keeps wandering around,

but this time, he's off to X-ray.

He came to A&E with head and neck pains.

He's been desperate to leave

but has been persuaded to stay for crucial tests.

What you need to do is to stand up, I need you to come up

to this board here and just press your chest up against it, OK? Right.

-Take a big breath in now.

-Turan was assaulted two days ago.

He has been breathless and extremely anxious since he arrived in A&E.

The tests will help doctors determine if he

-has any serious internal injuries.

-That's great.

That's us all done now, OK?

Next is a CT scan to check for head and neck injuries.

Have you ever had a CT scan before?

So, this big bit here will tilt.

Stay very still, OK?

-He's already moving.

-Is he?

You need to keep really still there, OK?

-If Turan moves too much, the scan won't work.

-Just keep...

No, we're going to have to strap him down. He's moving from side to side.

All right, finished.

It's been nearly two hours since Turan was allocated a bed in A&E.

Staff are concerned that the breathlessness and agitation

Turan has been experiencing might be partly down to the

drinking problems he disclosed earlier.

When you spoke to us before, you stated that you're having

-a bit of problem with your drinking, aren't you?

-Drink. Yeah.

-Right.

I'm going to give you a leaflet here. All right?

-On there is the number.

-Uh-huh.

-All right?

These people here, right?

-That number here, they will direct you to the right place.

-OK.

-But...

-So I can go now?

-No, no. Not yet.

You're still going to see the doctor.

-All I'm saying is that is for when you leave.

-OK.

But you've got to want to help yourself.

The first stage of wanting to help yourself is to ring these people up,

all right, and they will look after you.

-OK?

-OK.

-So ring them up.

A lot of our patients are alcohol-related injuries, illnesses.

And I think some people's tolerance to alcohol is different to others.

I think some people can go out and have a drink once a week

and that's fine and then that's all they have

or some people drink every night but they're not alcoholic

and then some people become alcoholics, for whatever reason.

And it is really sad.

And I think we're quite good at not judging them because there's

normally a reason behind them,

behind the reason that they are alcoholic.

Or they've just been unlucky. And that's not for us to judge.

We're just here to look after them when they are sick.

Turan is still waiting for the results of his x-rays.

He's desperate to go home.

I'm going to ask for my results.

If I want to discharge instead, what do I need to do?

-Why do you want to discharge yourself?

-I want to go home.

If he doesn't stay, all the tests will be of no use.

Have a seat. So, we've done the scan of your face and your head.

I'm waiting for the consultant radiologist to report it.

That will be another 40 minutes at least.

I cannot wait another 40 minutes.

-Well, you'll have to sign yourself out if that's what you wish.

-Yeah.

But you won't get your results back either.

And do you understand if you sign yourself out then you endorse

-full responsibility of what could happen?

-Yeah, yeah.

And that includes collapsing, passing out and any brain injury.

-Yeah, I know.

-And even death.

-Yeah.

Despite the doctor's efforts, Turan decides to leave.

You'd rather not? Fine. I'll get you...

MUFFLED SPEECH

I got a panic attack, I cannot wait. I cannot wait.

I just want to walk a little bit.

-He discharges himself from A&E.

-You can leave.

-OK.

-I mean, he's walked out.

He could well come back into us with severe headaches

so therefore we'll start the whole procedure again and have to

go through scans and everything else, fresh doctor, notes from...

If he comes back tomorrow, notes from today, another doctor is taken

up with the same patient that could have been sorted out by four o'clock

today and then there's not a doctor tied up tomorrow with him again.

-What are you doing?

-I'm going away.

-Why?

-Panicking, shaking.

-For the sake of half an hour.

I cannot stay. I cannot stay.

-For the sake of half an hour.

-Thank you very much for your help.

You take care, all right?

-You should stay.

-I know I should, but...

It's time for bed nine to move on and get ready for its next patient.

Our hospital beds have given us

intimate access into the work of the NHS.

Liz stayed three nights on the hospital ward

and hasn't been back since.

She's just been on a Caribbean cruise with her husband Max.

Stephen is still waiting for a day for his leg operation but is

hopeful he'll be back on his feet soon.

And after wearing a cast on his arm for over a month,

Daniel is looking forward to playing sport again very soon.

The beds are now back on their wards,

ready and waiting for the next round of patients.