Life Changing Moments at St Georges Hospital A E 24 Hours in A E Documentary

People wake up on a normal day and suddenly something happens that changes their lives completely. Pediatric trauma call, 15 minutes. A lot of really bad things happen to really good people but you never think it's going to happen to you. Stabbed five times including chest. He's got an arterial bleed from his leg. High-speed RTC moped into wall. Jesus Christ, what happened? You alright? I love my wife. A&E reception, can I help you? Yeah, 24 hours, seven days a week. I love that question. What's your opening hours? St George's, London. One of the busiest and most advanced A&E departments in the world. Complete bologna amputation of her leg. I can't breathe. He looks frail, doesn't he? Looks like somebody who's going to break. It's going to be one of those days. A place where life. Darling, what's for dinner? Love. You're still as beautiful as ever. We have a boy. And loss. Don't make me cry. Unfold every single day. And they said there's nothing they can do. All the patients you're about to see were treated in just one 24-hour period. You don't know how lucky I am to be talking to you right now. We see situations where someone's life has just been turned upside down. People always try and remember what the last conversation was, or the last words that that person said to them. And I suppose it's so much nicer if the words that they remember are, I love you. Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Isn't huge, is it? 18 consultants, 50 doctors and 123 nurses work in St George's A&E. There are also specialists on call from across the hospital. Lovely, is a neurology registrar on shift today. I've always been interested in brain disorders since I was a teenager. She has no specific pain anywhere else in her body at all. Okay. Full strength at all four limbs. GCS 15 throughout. I like the fast paced side of things working in a stroke service offers. Keep on looking at my nose and I want you to point to the hand that's waving. I was born deaf. When I take my hearing aid out, I don't hear anything at all. There are benefits of that. I always get a good night's sleep. I'm probably one of the few people in West London who doesn't mind living underneath the flight path that you throw. Touch my finger and your nose. Things we make people do. In many ways, being born with a disability is perhaps much easier than acquiring one later on in life, because I've never known any different. That's fine. Yeah, we'll make our way up. That's very kind of you. Do you want her name? Somebody can go from being healthy and active to having extended disability and unable to speak. So a lot of our patients will categorise their life in terms of the time before the stroke and the time after the stroke. St George's. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, bye. Stroke call. A 59-year-old woman is being rushed to St George's after a suspected stroke. Can I put out a thrombolysis call with an ETA of 20 minutes, please? As soon as the bleep goes off, I know that the clock is ticking. For every minute that a stroke goes untreated, the less likely somebody is to have a good outcome. Becky's husband, Ray, dialled 999 when he couldn't get her up off the floor. We'd been out, we'd had a cup of drinks. We went to bed that night about 10 o'clock. Normally, Becky'd get up first thing in the morning, no problem whatsoever. And all of a sudden, about five in the morning, I just heard this thump and she'd fell out of bed. And I couldn't get her up. So she laid there. I mean, she was laying on the floor for three hours. I didn't know what to do. I was frightened. I was frightened. I didn't know what to do. On three. One, two. I need to do a blood test to start things off. Can you see all parts of my face okay? Just watch my hand as it moves, okay? I'll keep on looking at my hand. That's really good. Unfortunately, some people dismiss their symptoms. You see people who've been lying on the floor for a very long time, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to swallow. When you've got that sort of clinical picture, you really start to worry. Dr Helen wants to send Becky for an urgent CT scan to determine if she's had a bleed on her brain. It's been 18 minutes since Becky was brought into A&E by her husband, Ray, after a suspected stroke. Can you ask the husband how much she does drink? Nine pints a night. Nine pints every night. Oh, my good Lord. Heavy drinking certainly increases the risk of strokes caused by blood clots and strokes caused by haemorrhage. We know that people who drink very heavily have a three times increased risk of having a bleed into the brain. Do we have an onset? Well, she collapsed at 10 to 5 and her partner left her on the floor and tried to get her up. Becky used to be the belle of the ball. I mean, she used to love a party without any shadow of a doubt, you know. And she'd like a drink. She loved singing. Crazy's her main one. She sings all Patsy Cline songs and she do love singing. When we go round the pub, Becky'll have a banter with anybody. She loves to have a laugh, you know. She'd tell a joke. That's the way she is. We used to have a little local pub and then Beck was only maybe 14. But they used to let us drink out the back and we'd go in there with half a crown in their pockets or seven and six, which would be three half the crowns. And of course, we'd spend our money out the back on half a brown ale or whatever. And I started off drinking it. And then she used to drink port and lemon. Yeah, I mean, I was the culprit for getting her into drinking, definitely. There's something here. I think she's, yeah, quite a big stooge, this lady. But my sister came down for the fake bush. Oh my God, I had the best time. Did you go and see it? Fake bush, yeah. Not fake bush, real bush as well. Yeah. Oh, it was hilarious. It was such a good night. Was she good? Yeah, they were brilliant. She had like a hat on and she threw it at the beginning of the performance. She threw the hat into the audience and I caught it. And then do you wear it? Oh, yes. So we were singing all night and dancing all night. It was such a good night. Anne? Yes. Hello. Hi Anne, come through. School chef Anne has walked into St George's after tripping up and injuring her wrist. So what's happened to you? I fell over, fell down the steps. And when did that happen? No, about three hours ago. Okay, and you've obviously bumped your head. Yeah, but that's just a graze, that's all right. All right. It's just my hand. Did you hit your head on the steps or on the wall or? No, on the fence. On the fence, right. There were trees by it. Okay. I didn't even feel that. Okay. When you bumped your head, did you lose consciousness at all? No. Because you've had a bang to the head, we just need to make sure that everything's working properly. When I ain't got a brain today, if I had a brain, I'd be dangerous. You know what time it is at the moment? Time I should be on. And where are you at the moment? I'm sitting in St George's like a fool. Can you just have a look at my finger and keep your head still but follow it with your eyes? Do you have any double vision there? No. And you've got a painful hand or is it? Jesus. I put my hand down to protect myself. Okie doke. Did you go out with your hand down like that? Okay. Can you feel me touch your fingers here? Yeah. And you can feel me touch here and here. And you can feel this as well. Thank you. I'll show you where to go for the x-ray if you want to bring your bits and pieces there. Yeah, I hope it's not miles away. No. Do you want a sandwich or anything? No, my daughter's coming up. Okay. Hello, it's Helen here again. Looking at her scan, there's some early right MZA changes and possibly a bit of MZA clot. Becky's husband Ray is awaiting the results of his wife's CT scan. I'm going to give you a little bit of something to help you feel better after last night's alcohol intake. From the day one, I've never really been interested in any other women to be quite honest. We met when Beck was 11 and I was 13. I used to go to school with her brother and I went down their house one day and he introduced me to her and that was it. We clicked and we've been together ever since. I think she had her school uniform on. She had short blonde hair and she just looked lovely. It was love at first sight. People think it don't happen but it did with me and Beck. We got married in a register office in Croydon. I brought her a brown tonic soup and I had a brown pinstripe suit. She had the bouquet and everything in her hands. I remember taking her down Surrey Street Market and they said where you been girl? She said I've just got married and so we went in the cafe and had a cup of coffee and that was it and a few sandwiches and that was our wedding. Best day of my life. Becky's CT scan has revealed a large clot on her brain which has resulted in a stroke. We've done the scan of Becky's head and it actually shows some early signs that she's had a stroke. She'll be all right, won't she? I think we'll need to see how she gets on over the next few days and weeks. Yeah. I have to say she'll probably be in hospital for a few weeks because of this weakness down the left side. She'll need some more physiotherapy to get her stronger. So she'll be staying with us here at St George's for about three days. We need to do some more tests and investigations just to check out her heart. Yeah. And just to look at the blood vessels that supply her brain just to make sure that there's no problems with those. Did you want to come and see her? Is she able to talk? Yeah, please. You all right there, George? Yeah, I'm all right. She's had a stroke. They're going to keep you in here for a few weeks. You've had a stroke. Becky, do you need to bring you into a hospital here and keep you in for a few days? All right, just to get you a bit better, okay? We know the ins and out of each other because we've been together so long. We're never really apart. Wherever I go, Beck will be with me. I don't know what I'd do without her. I really don't. You know, she's just, well, she's my life. My kids are my life. I love my kids to death, but I don't know what I'd do without me missus. Cinderella's been here. I know, I was thinking that was so random. Maybe I should just leave my trainer behind. Mum, are you a bit disorientated? Why, no. Because you're not walking straight. I'm not walking. I'm thinking where I'm going. Anne's daughter Sinead has arrived at St George's to be with her mum. I'm back. Hello. This lady's in a hurry. I can't sit and chat. Have a seat. Yeah, I've got business to see to. Business to see. People to see. Places to go. Tell me now, is it broken or not? I shall once I've had a look. I'll take you home, Mum, but you need to come and stay with us. Hang on. Is that even sore? Mum, have you seen it? Yeah, I thought it was funny. OK, so yes, it is broken in two places. And you can see it's a bit angulated here, where it's going over this way a little bit. We'll put a plaster on. Good. How long does that take? Not long. That's good. Let's make sure it happens as quickly as we can. That's all right, because it's very emergency. I know. I have to go about my business. Absolutely. Will you be all right sitting while we do this? Yeah. OK, let me just... Oh, dear. Do you know what they're going to do? What? They're going to inject you to numb you, then they've got to pull your arm to reposition it. You're not scared? Yeah. Oh, Mum, are you OK? It stings and it burns a bit. I know. I feel it. You feel it, and then it's going to go numb, OK? Take some breaths. You all right, Mum? Yeah. Brilliant. Nearly done. Sure? Yeah. Tell us if you're not. I'm different to that one of me. That was a look I wouldn't want to see too many times. It's all right now. Yeah. OK, well done. Do you want a drink, Mum? You all right? Yeah. You're not feeling faint? No, I think more than that, I'm beginning to feel faint. Oh, goodness. You all right? Yeah. Mum! I do apologise. Mum! If I did that, you would be devastated. It's a sign of a good drink. Yeah, of course it is. You don't understand. Yes, they encourage her. I'd quite like to, I'm sorry. She doesn't need much. So this plaster, don't get it wet, because it just dissolves when it gets wet. If it starts to feel too tight, where you're getting tingling in your fingers, to raise it higher. If that doesn't go away with that, then you need to come back for it to be cut off. We'll make you an appointment with the fracture clinic. I hope it sorts itself out quickly, and you have a speedy recovery. Make sure you take the painkillers. Yes, I will. Thanks. Take care then. Bye-bye. Nice to meet you. Bye. What an exciting day. Let me do something. Adult trauma call, ETA, six minutes. A 19-year-old woman is being rushed to St George's with suspected spinal injuries after falling 20 feet onto concrete. Fall from 20 feet. Junior doctor Sobi is part of the trauma team on shift today. If someone has broken their back, then that's a high-risk injury. And if you've got fractures in the spine, then you're more worried about a spinal cord injury. Georgia locked herself out of her flat after going out with friends. She was trying to climb in through a second-story window when she lost her balance and fell, landing on her back. Georgia has been locked out of her flat. She's been trying to get back into her flat. Climbing about 20 feet high, is leant over, fallen backwards onto concrete. Lower spinal pain and pelvic pain. Don't move your head around at all, OK? If there is an unstable fracture and there's bone that's not in the right place, then that can sever the spinal cord and that can end up in paralysis. Georgia, my name's Sobi. I'm just going to check you over, OK? Anchor's just coming. Is that painful? Right-sided chest wall tenderness. Sharp scratch coming up. Do you have some morphine? I'm just going to give you some paracetamol, OK? 19-year-old Georgia fell 20 feet after she locked herself out of her flat and tried to climb in through an open window. Georgia, what we're going to do is we're going to take you around to do a scan of your head, chest and tummy, all right? She's being sent for an urgent CT scan as doctors are concerned she may have fractured her spine. I count, ready? One, two, three. I'm in so much pain. We're about to shock her. It's all in my back. Can I call my mama, please? You can call, yeah, afterwards we can. She locked herself out of her flat and tried to climb up. Keep your hands by your side, keep still. Fell backwards 20 foot. Georgia was always out and about with her friends. The life was like a party. Georgia would take the day to get ready on a night out. Yeah, she'd make the day of it. Socialising was her main priority. She was out clubbing every weekend. And without a doubt, she'd be clubbing until early hours in the morning. I did nag her about her drinking, but she wouldn't listen. Let me see. Oh, what a feeling. Wonderful feeling. Have you been vegetarian at all? Since I was like seven or eight. You got a ham, bacon and egg sandwich on a Saturday morning we were hanging over. Oh, I love bacon and egg sandwich. With all the egg drips out. But I find it weird. You can buy eggs that are literally like fresh out of the, like, the butthole. Yeah. And that kind of freaks me out. They're potential chickens. Yeah, it's like nicer, but like nicer. Becky, before I give you all these medications, I need to see if your swallow is OK. The stroke team are trying to establish how much of Becky's brain has been affected by her stroke. She's been given anti-clotting drugs to prevent further damage. I just need to answer this bleep. Can I just ask you to have a little read of this? I can't read, love. You can't? Can you read, Becky? Becky can, yeah. Do you want some glass, my love? I weren't that good at school, to be quite honest. You know, when you're young, you're a little bit Jack the Lad. And school really never interested me. They used to call it up the wagon them days. They used to do it quite often, quite often. And majority of the time, it'd be to go and see Becky. You know, I'd arrange to meet her somewhere. It weren't till I left school I realised the years that I missed. And I wish to God that I hadn't. I topped up working in a cheese factory on the pearly way. I mean, any letters come through, obviously, I can't read them. Becky reads them. So, yeah, I mean, I depend on her a lot. She was doing everything. I've got osteoarthritis in both knees. I've got a job getting in the bath. And so she's had to give me a wash, yeah. So help me on with my trousers. Help me do my shoes up. She's never, ever complained. And that's how Becky's. All right? Watch your arm, because you've got all tubes and... Doctors won't know the long-term effects of Becky's stroke for several weeks. She'll need to be admitted to the stroke unit at St George's for specialist treatment and rehabilitation. I've got your son on the phone. He's going to come round just in time. OK. When somebody receives a diagnosis, like having had a stroke or brain tumour, it's life-changing. Your life will never be the same again. She's all right, son. She's all... This morning, she fell out of bed this morning. She fell out of bed this morning and banged her... She must have banged her head. She's all right. Don't tell... Don't keep telling Tony. Don't tell Tony, Phil. I don't want him to start... You know what he's like, worrying. All right, don't worry, boy. You'll be all right. Don't worry. All right? All right, see you later, son. God bless. Bye. I don't think anyone is ever prepared to hear that sort of news. You'll be going up to the stroke ward very shortly, OK? The nurses will take you up there. My four-year-old niece was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive brain tumour. And I think, as a family, that was pretty devastating for all of us. I knew that my niece had some problems with her eyes around about late June. As a doctor, it's very difficult to know whether you're just reading too much into things or whether you really should raise the alarm. From my own medical knowledge, the sort of brain tumour I was concerned about is vanishingly rare. It affects about 20 children in the UK each year. But, unfortunately, I was right. It's quite difficult sometimes being the doctor in the family in that sort of situation, particularly when you realise that something is potentially very seriously wrong with someone that you love very much. Yeah. You can't push it. How can I help? Florence was lying on the floor earlier today when her brother tipped a wooden chair onto her head. Oh, no. What happened? Oh, is that what happened? Did you do that by accident? We're not so sure about that one. Eighty-eight-year-old Edith has been brought into A&E after collapsing at home. Her son Patrick followed behind the ambulance. She was about to make her tea for her and dad, and she's just starting setting up the cooking and the prepping, and she said she had a bad feeling came over her. And before she knew it, she was on the floor. She never looked good at all, you know. She was gasping for air. She was in and out of consciousness kind of thing. How's that? I'll get you a pillow. Edith has been given medication to help lower her blood pressure. Doctors want to keep her under observation to try and establish the cause of her collapse. Is that Catherine? Yeah. Where are you from? Southport in Merseyside. I thought it was Liverpool. Just near there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Scouser. Arcade. Silla Black Centre, mum. Sorry, Catherine. No dancing in the wood. Change me out luck. Knees up, my brain, my mind's gone clear. Watch where your wife comes back from. Don't tell her that. Don't tell her. Don't start no trouble. All this lying about ain't doing us no good. You're more stable now, ain't I? My mum is like Edith of the households. She know how to cook. She know how to clean. She know how to organise the kids. She know everything. She know how to organise my dad. Are you hungry? She was born in St. Ann's in Jamaica, 1926. She come off a plantation called Garden Hall. And my dad said he met her on a bridge. She looked like an Indian squaw. Long black hair. A woman with long black hair in Jamaica. Copper colour. Looked like a Coca-Cola bottle shape. Hey, he always wanted to be with her. He loved her on that bridge. He said she was the most beautifulest girl he ever saw. And I know my mum use her charms to her hens enough times. She used to be doing them things to me. She just has to get what she wants for it that way. I used to go shopping with her in Brixton. If she thinks the yam's too expensive, she'll tell them that the yam down the road is cheaper and better. And then she'll probably negotiate and get the yam for the price that she wants to get it for. She's manipulated me. Sometimes I don't even know how she's done it. I'll find myself doing something. It was a hot day in the summer last year and all my friends were going down to Hyde Park. And somehow, I still don't know how, I found myself cutting the grass. I think we was going party tonight. Thought we was going rafing. Thought we were going to cut some shapes. I've caught her singing along to current tracks. I've caught her singing along to Vibes Cartel before. Check your eyes. Edith is being sent for a CT scan to check for a bleed on her brain. Hello, recess. Oh, hi, it's Simon, one of the ED doctors. I was wondering if I can get to have a look at some scans for one of our trauma patients. So she's a 19-year-old girl called Georgia, was about 20 feet off the ground and has slipped, fallen backwards, flat on her back. She's got a bit of a nasty-looking L1 fracture. Georgia's CT scan has revealed an unstable fracture in her spine. Can you feel me touching your legs on both sides? Yeah. Do they feel the same on both sides? Yeah. And here? Yeah. She'll need to be assessed by the orthopaedic specialist. The scan of her neck came back clear. Do you think I'll be able to go home from it? Tonight, I'm afraid not. The bone is quite unstable, so if you move it too much, there's a chance that it'll poke into your spinal cord and there's a small risk that your legs will be paralysed, which is why we need to keep you flat on your back. It might need an operation to fix it, OK? Thank you. Keep your neck still, Georgia. Why are you crying? Are you worried? Just try and keep your neck still, all right? I know it's a bit frightening. I really want my mum. I rang her as well. It's gone to voicemail. Georgia and myself were bickering, so I decided to put my phone on silent. Me and my mum would argue quite a lot. We are quite fiery. That's how it is with us. I went through a bad couple of years with Georgia. When she hit high school, that was it. Smoking at an early age, bunking school, in trouble with the police quite a lot, various different things. And the older she got, the worse it got. You still need to stay lying flat, all right? I think I was 12. I was in care for a period of time because of that, so, yeah, because of my own behaviour. Putting Georgia into care was a very hard decision to make. I felt like I'd failed as a mother. I'd let her down. But it got to the stage where I didn't know what else to do, to be honest. I mean, if she wasn't listening to me, then she's sort of putting herself in a vulnerable, dangerous situation, really. You have to think, just... I know you want to go out right now, but you just have to try and be patient. She's a very strong character, very strong. She gets something in her head, she'll just go for it, that's it. I've tried to tell her, you know, you might be paralysed if you try and stand up. Sus doesn't seem to understand. I know, but I just can't deal with it no more. I just need to go. Yeah, there's a fracture in L1 which is a stable and sacral fracture as well. Let me just tell you one thing. If you're not careful... I understand. ...you can end up in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. This is what we're talking about. I understand. Do you want to be in a wheelchair? No, I don't. So please don't stand up. Please lie down for me, OK? Stay in the bed, don't go anywhere, all right? Don't make a decision that you will regret for the rest of your life. This is a message for the mother of Georgia. I would like to speak to you with regards to her. I wonder if you could give us a ring. Thank you very much. So just try not to move, OK? Doctors have finally managed to contact Georgia's mum, Anita. I can't sit up. No, you can't. Don't panic. Stay calm, stay still. I remember when Georgia was born, like it was yesterday. Once I gave birth to Georgia, that was it. I mean, you just want to protect them from everything. But as she gets older, it's harder to do that. When they wheel me upstairs, can't they just, like, wheel me outside for one second? It's just going to make me get up. You can't get up, you're just acting like a... I can get up. You can't, Georgia. You've broken your back. Stay still. So she'll go up to the ward, and they're going to wait to see when they can do the surgery. Georgia will be moved to a ward for close observation and assessment, while specialists decide if she'll need an operation on her spine. What to do is keep very still for me, all right, you do? OK. Good. We'll be as quick as I can, all right? That's all right, darling. Just don't move your head. Edith has been sent for a CT scan, as doctors are concerned her collapse may have been caused by a bleed on the brain. We used to live in a seaside town. She used to go to the bay, buy the fish, come back, prepare it, fry it, take it to the racetrack and sell it on race days. And that's how she earned her money, to come to England. When I say strong work ethic, I think she'll have a headache if she ain't got a job. Well, she used to work at Harrods. She was the elk juice bar lady in Harrods. All right, Edith? Yes, thank you. On the ground floor, everybody stopped. Them actors, actresses stopped, called for her. She know their mix, how to mix it and so forth. Yeah, she's a good cook, my mum. So, from she get the job of Harrods, we have a different quality of meat for dinner, different quality of chicken for dinner. No Brixton market stuff anymore. How did that go? We're just waiting for the report now. OK. The doctors will report it. All right. Just to wet your mouth and then we'll check it out. Yeah, nice one, catch it. She's a royalist, you know. They were born the same year and she's very respectful of the Queen. She used to stand up when the epilogue, you remember the epilogue on the TV, God Save the Queen, before the television sign off. My mum would stand up until he got... Stand up for what? Say, God save the Queen, but there's nobody... Say, stand up and have some manners, you know. So, yeah, it's staunch. The CT scan is fine, it's good, but what we want to do is want to keep you overnight and we'll do some more investigations in the morning. What we do need to do is, we need to take a bit of fluid from the spine to see if there's any blood in there and we usually do that in the morning. OK. I'll come back and explain that procedure to you. All right, OK, nice. Come on, sit up more. Bring up this more, bring up this more. Doctors want to rule out any underlying injuries before sending Edith home. I'm just going to disconnect you. My name's Amy. OK. Hello. She'll be kept in overnight so they can run further tests in the morning. All right, bye, take care. Bye. Thank you. All right, out of it. Got to cut some chips. Jane bought me a ticket to go out on the weekend so we're going to have to tell Natasha what's happened and tell her to tell everyone that Georgia's... That did give me a taste of life of what it would be like without the use of your legs and it's obviously, it's not a nice feeling. I felt everything about everyone in the wheelchair and most people do feel, I felt their pain and it's not nice at all. I was being stupid. I knew that. I think lessons are there to be learned. She looked like she could go around again. She's like a old Mercedes Benz, you know? She looked like she could go around the clock again. It's just her body and her flesh is weak, you know? But her spirit is as strong as a lion. OK, palm up to the ceiling. I'll get you keeping there for a few seconds. OK, and relax. She is a fighter. That's one thing I can say. She's a fighter and she ain't afraid of nothing. I can't say someone was forcing me to smoke. Someone's forcing me to drink. I've done it all by myself. Big girl, you know? Think I know it all. And at the end of the day, you don't. You just, you know, just got to be thankful for what you've got. You.