Fifth episode of ’24 Hours in A&E’ at St George’s FT!
St George’s hospital in south west London, which has one of Britain’s most advanced and busiest A&E departments became a Foundation Trust this week. We are incredibly proud of our staff and all the hard work they have done to help us achieve this. Their willingness to participate in programmes like ’24 Hours in A&E’ is a testament to their passion to educate the public on emergency treatment and provide an excellent level of care.
This week’s episode of ’24 Hours in A&E’ focuses on older patients who are often reluctant to get the help they need, while younger patients are treated after very different accidents.
85-year-old Peter has been brought, unwillingly, to A&E by his step-son Brian. He cut his finger on some wire two weeks ago and his hand is swollen and won’t stop bleeding. An x-ray shows it is dislocated.
“Peter’s got a thing about hospitals. He doesn’t like them, he thinks they’re for people who are ill,” says Brian. “He’s always been a bit of a walking disaster. As I keep saying to him ‘You’re not John Wayne, that gets shot in the film and you can go back and do what you did’.”
86-year-old man Harry is rushed to St George’s after falling down a flight of stairs the day before, landing on his face. His neighbours Alison and Tim popped round to see how Harry was and found him eating a roast dinner with a badly bruised face. “The sight that greeted me, it took my breath,” says Tim. “’Blood hell, mate, what have you done?’.”
Harry met his wife Milly, his first love, at a youth club in 1941. He recalls the first thing he said to her “’I’m going to marry you’ and I did,” he says. Milly died seven years ago and he misses her terribly. “Sometimes I’ll be watching television and I’ll look across and she’s sitting there…but she’s not there,” says Harry.
23-year-old Emma is rushed in to St George’s after crashing her car on the way to her dad’s for Sunday lunch. She was cut free from the car, her pride and joy, by firefighters. “Emma was scared, she was screaming and crying. All she could say was ‘It just stopped’,” says Terry, Emma’s dad.
Emma has pain in her lower back and a loss of sensation in her legs and medics are concerned she may have a back injury, so send her for a CT scan. “One of the worrying things you have to make sure is ruled out with back pain is that the spinal cord is all right,” says consultant James.
Meanwhile 27-year-old Kieran injured his ankle the previous night while out with friends – he fell while rollerskating at 1am. He was given a temporary cast at his local hospital and told to visit A&E. Nurse Helen needs to get Kieran x-rayed and re-plastered, but he faces a return visit for an operation.