Casualty 24/7: Patients in ambulances queuing 'out the door' at overcrowded Barnsley A&E in Channel 5 show
Channel 5 filmed a series of the NHS docu-series with teams at Barnsley Hospital.
An all-star team of A&E nurses at Barnsley Hospital will battle with overcrowding and hot temperatures in tonight’s episode of Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts.
Nurse sisters Harriet, Benita, Jane and Jo will combat a stuffy department as a heatwave hits and overcrowding as patients and ambulances queue out the door.
The episode will feature the team on the hottest day of the year as Nurse Jo assesses: “14 waiting from walk-ins waiting to be seen. So they're waiting about an hour to be assessed”.
But patients will also be waiting in ambulances as well as out the front door.
“The A&E policy at the moment is one patient goes out of the department, so we can bring another patient in. Unless it’s life threatening,” a paramedic tells the Channel 5 team.
Overcrowding and hot weather do not mix well, as Nurse Jane adds: “Because it’s very warm today in the department and because of all of the bodies, it just makes it feel even hotter than what it is. So the impact on the department when it’s really hot outside, is that it is just sweltering inside.
“The more bodies that come into the department the hotter it gets.”
Casualty 24/7 Every Second Counts will broadcast on Channel 5 at 9pm on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.