Hospital

Filmed during the winter of 2019/20, as A&E waiting times hit their highest-ever recorded levels and the impact of exceptional demand is placing the NHS under severe pressure, Hospital is the story of the health service in unprecedented times.

As figures for knife crime nationally hit a record high, Merseyside has seen a doubling in the last five years. In Aintree Hospital's major trauma centre, a 15-strong team are trying to save the life of a young man who has just arrived by helicopter.

Heart disease remains the biggest killer in the UK and every five minutes, across the country, someone has a heart attack. Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital's specialist services are on the frontline of this modern epidemic.

Alder Hey Children's Hospital predominantly treats patients up to 16 years of age. But as medical advances save children who a decade ago may not have survived, the NHS faces the challenge of providing ongoing care for these complex patients.

For the last ten years, NHS staff have been working to meet the ever-rising demand of patients coming through the front door, but there is another pressure for them to confront.

The Walton Centre in Liverpool is the country's only dedicated neurosciences hospital Trust, providing neurology, neurosurgery, spinal and pain management services. Every year, over 3,000 patients are referred to the neurology clinics here.

Eighteen-month-old Violet has been a patient at Alder Hey since birth and needs major skull-reconstructive surgery. She has craniosynostosis, a rare condition that can cause her skull to twist, pulling her brain in one direction.

Two-year-old Yeshua has an aggressive cancerous tumour in his abdomen. In Iraq, where he was born, Yeshua was given a 5 per cent chance of survival. Though high doses of chemotherapy have shrunk the tumour over the last six months.