New episode of 24 Hours in A&E: Side by side
The award-winning 24 hours in A&E returns with a series of compilations featuring some of the most memorable staff and patient stories filmed since 2011 at King’s College Hospital and St George’s in South London – places where life, love and loss unfold every day.
This episode features three patients filmed at St George’s Hospital who are all in immediate need of different types of care.
60 year old bricklayer Phil is rushed to A&E in a critical condition after falling just two feet off a ladder at work and suffering multiple injuries. Paramedics took him to a local hospital but his injuries were so severe he needed to be transferred to the Major Trauma Unit at St George’s. His friend and business partner Paul, was working on another site when he heard about the accident “it just goes to show how easy it is for an experienced builder to slip up, it takes a second to make a mistake and your life’s changed forever.”
Initial results show Phil has fractured his spine, wrist and ribs and doctors need to CT scan him urgently to check for any internal injuries. Fellow bricklayer Paul talks about how he first met Phil on a building site in Hammersmith over 28 years ago. But it was only when Paul took on a big job and asked Phil to help him, that they realised how compatible they were as a team “one left handed, one right handed.. you’ve got a trowel in one hand and bricks in another, so you can work towards each other and never get an awkward bit!”
As doctors assess the severity of Phil’s spinal fracture, Paul talks about how it was more than just work they had in common “over the years we’ve always had more laughs than arguments… we was coming home from a job one day and he said something and we had to pull over and physically laugh for 10, 15 minutes until we’d calmed down enough to be able to drive off.”
Meanwhile, 31 year old personal trainer Alison is transferred from another hospital after being kicked with such force by a horse that her leg has been broken.
And finally, music lover Graham’s nose just won’t stop bleeding after he recently started taking blood-thinners having suffered a heart attack.
Executive Producers: Emma Tutty, Lucie Duxbury and Spencer Kelly
Producer: Edmund Davis
Film Editor: Mac Mackenzie
