24 Hours in A&E

10-year-old Ashleigh is rushed to St George’s by ambulance after an accident playing football where she twisted her leg awkwardly. X-rays reveal that Ashleigh’s femur is broken and will need surgery. It’s not Ashleigh’s first time at St George’s, her dad was treated there for Leukaemia. He died when she was just seven. 3-year-old Lola is visiting A&E with her dad Quin after having a seizure earlier today. She suffers from febrile convulsions, a condition that causes her to fit intermittently. “Naturally when you see this sort of thing you go through all the worst case scenarios,” says Quin. “You think ‘What if this happens when we’re not with her?’ In that moment there’s nothing I can do, that’s the scary thing.” Meanwhile 91-year-old Betty is brought to St George’s with severe chest pain. Doctors need to do a blood test to confirm if she is having a heart attack and she faces life-saving surgery. Betty’s niece Anne talks about her aunt’s long and eventful life. “She was a telegraph operator to the North Atlantic convoys,” says Anne. “After that she did what she really, really wanted to do, which is to travel. She went to South Africa, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. She was ahead of her time, a trailblazer.”