24 Hours in A&E

The RTS award-winning documentary series returns for a twelfth series following patients treated in the same 24 hour period at St George’s in south west London. The hospital has one of the busiest A&E departments in Britain - under more pressure than ever. It’s a place where stories of life, love and loss unfold every day. This episode explores how loss and grief can test even the strongest marriages and how finding love for a second time can save you. 58 year old Kim has been airlifted to St George’s after being run over by a lorry and suffering severe blood loss at the road side. Her partner Andy was with her at the scene. Whilst doctors assess Kim’s leg – they are concerned that the nerves and tissue may have suffered irreparable damage and she may need an emergency operation – Andy talks about Kim being his second chance at finding happiness. He explains that when he first met Kim he was recently divorced after 18 years of marriage and he didn’t know how to behave. Andy also knew that Kim was keeping something from him. “She had the walls up. She didn’t want to get involved and I kept on thinking, you’re not telling me everything.” As Kim’s leg is being cleaned and dressed in advance of surgery, she talks about the joy she felt at being a mother of two boys but how a few years later, the death of her young son in a road traffic accident, destroyed her first marriage. “I just wanted to suffer and I did for quite a few years until I met Andy,” confesses Kim. “But he’s changed everything.” 65 year old Patrick has fallen from a loft ladder at home whilst trying to retrieve a suitcase. His wife Jude found him sprawled on the landing. “I thought, my goodness, he’s dying in front of me. And we have just retired and come to the part where we have got time together…” During the scan, Jude talks about meeting Patrick and falling in love. “We went to the first Reading pop festival and I fainted. So I went to the doctors and I found out I was pregnant so we quickly got married,” she reminisces. “It was only later that Patrick told me that his dad didn’t want him to marry me.” Whilst doctors await the final scan report – they are concerned that Patrick may have fractured his pelvis and spine - he remembers how his father first came to London from Ireland and was treated as a second-class citizen. He also admits that his father never really accepted Jude as his wife. “He said he didn’t want an English girl or an un-Catholic in the house. I stood up to the guy. I said I’m marrying her and I’m going to live with her for the rest of my life. I don’t think my father ever really accepted Jude but it was my choice.” Whilst Patrick’s minor head wound is being dressed, he talks about how the early days of his marriage were tested by the unexplained death of his sister in a boating accident. And Jude remembers how he would go for days on end without speaking to her. “He had things going on in his head that he had to sort out, and I was prepared to wait,” she continues, “because life would be nothing without him.” And Mario, a mischievous 85 year old, has been brought in with signs of dehydration. His two daughters are by his bedside constantly chastising him for not drinking enough water. Whilst doctors try to give him saline intravenously but can’t find a suitable vein, his daughter Rosanna remembers coming to England from Italy with her parents when she was 4 years old. “My mother didn’t want to come. We were immigrants. There was no pasta. There was no olive oil. There was no Parmesan.” Rosanna then talks about how she taught her parents to speak English but that it’s still hard to understand her father’s accent. “I’m not English and I’m not Italian,” she continues. “I take the best parts of both and I mix them together.”