Looking to the future with ’24 Hours in A&E’
This week’s episode focuses on patients and families who try to look to the future, rather than dwelling on the past.
62-year-old Cora arrives by air ambulance after being a passenger in a high speed road traffic collision where she was trapped in the car for over an hour. Cora is sent for a CT scan to assess her injuries as doctors suspect she has multiple fractures.
Cora’s husband, 65-year-old Rae, who was driving the car, arrives at St George’s soon afterwards by ambulance. Due to the high impact of the collision, staff are concerned that Rae could have sustained serious head, neck and internal injuries.
“With any big trauma there’s a level of heightened anxiety and emotion,” says registrar Sarah. “But if you’ve got two patients from the same accident and the same family, that probably goes up even more.”
Rae’s mother Audrey talks about Rae’s twin Rodney, who was knocked over by a car while working in the road. “When they told me Rae had hit his head, I’m afraid I just broke down because that’s what killed my other son,” says Audrey.
23-year-old Scott has badly cut his knee after a night out with friends. While he’s treated, Scott talks about being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager and being sectioned.
“When I was first diagnosed with psychosis, it kind of scared me a bit. I didn’t know how other people were going to react,” says Scott. “Nowadays I find it simple to deal with without too much stress. It’s just the hand I’m dealt in life and just got to kind of live with it.”
Meanwhile 68-year-old retired carpenter Richard has come to A&E after falling on the pavement and hitting his head. Staff sew up his cut forehead and put him through tests for his very low blood pressure.
Richard talks about demonstrating against the Vietnam War, enjoying himself and being an older dad to a teenager. “I drank, took drugs, went everywhere, done everything. It was brilliant!” he says. “Eliza is a typical teenager, I love her to bits. She puts me right. I teach her about my music; she’s been brought up on The Stones and Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens.”
