Hospital

I’ve been fortunate enough to work across three series of BBC2’s Hospital, which is renowned for taking a journalistic and frank look at the enormous pressures facing our NHS and the remarkable people who keep it running.

For Series 4 I made a film (episode 2) about the difficulties brain injury patients face in accessing rehabilitation, with rehab beds in increasingly short supply. At the Walton Centre in Liverpool (the country’s only dedicated specialist neurological hospital trust) I met Sophie, an impressive young woman who had found herself on intensive care for 18 months after a dangerous and inexplicable swelling of her brain, and who was desperate to get home. I also filmed with Tom, who sustained a brain injury in a car crash and who frequently challenged staff on his ward by trying to escape.

For Series 5 I returned to Liverpool and concentrated on filming unusual stories in the city’s main A&E department at the Royal Liverpool Hospital (episodes 2&5). I observed the trust making the difficult decision to ban a repeat-attender from A&E, and filmed the devastating story of an amputee made homeless because of the social housing crisis. In the edit, I then cut a film (episode 6) about patients with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a little-known and chronically underfunded condition, which was well-received by the medical community.

For Series 6, in October 2020, I cut two films about the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust’s recovery from the first wave of Covid-19, and its preparations for the next wave. Episode 1 of the series is about the many operations - including for cancer patients - which have been delayed by the pandemic, and the trust’s struggle to get on top of an enormous waiting list for non-covid care. Episode 6 tells the stories of people in North London caught up in the second wave of the pandemic, and is filled with tragedy and hope in equal measure.