Akuten 24/7

Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts

. Sister Harriet Lindley is running today’s shift, the hospital is already busy and there’s been a sharp rise in the number of ambulances being called.

At Barnsley Hospital the department is facing a big change, eight new junior doctors have joined the close-knit team. Sister Jane Hawksworth explains ‘twice a year, new doctors come into the department all fresh and unexpecting…'

Paramedics bring in 59-year-old Wendy with a critical heart condition and there’s a complication, she has kidney failure and needs dialysis three times a week.

Advanced Nurse Practitioner Cheryl Barnes answers the red phone and heads to resus. ‘When that red phone rings it gives you a bit of an adrenaline rush, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.’

Battling to keep the flow of patients moving is Sister Jane Hawksworth but she’s got a problem. They’re two porters down and it’s causing a backlog, but the emergencies keep arriving.

We spend an eventful night shift with Barnsley Hospital’s Casualty team. Evenings are a peak time for road traffic collisions and the most critical cases are blue lit straight to Casualty.

Registrar Doctor Ashleigh Trimble takes the next call from paramedics. 81-year-old Roy is being blue lighted in, after falling over and landing badly on one of his artificial hips.

With an already busy department, Nurse Chloe Wesley answers the red emergency phone. A 23-month-old toddler is being rushed in with suspected sepsis, a life-threatening condition that attacks the internal organs.

Registrar Doctor Rob Cornford heads straight to Resus to treat 58-year-old window-fitter Craig who’s been blue-lighted in. He was working on a ladder on the first floor of a house when he fell and was knocked unconscious.

Sister Jane Hawksworth has clocked on for a night shift to find every bed in Barnsley Hospital is taken. To get the department moving again Sister Jane and the close-knit Casualty team will have to pull together.

Sister Benita Wainwright is leading the team, a day that she describes as “Chaos. There are people everywhere. It’s hard going. But staff pull together and make sure patients are looked after.”

At Barnsley Casualty the team clock on to a backlog of patients waiting to be transferred to wards. With no beds across the entire hospital, Sister Jane Hawksworth is battling to prevent patients being on trolleys for the NHS maximum of 12 hours.

After an extraordinarily busy few days, the team at Barnsley Casualty are struggling to clear the backlog of patients, and new arrivals are waiting up to 5 hours to see a doctor.

Sister Jane Hawksworth is on duty, ‘I think the sister team is strong, we are all strong women.' Sister Benita Wainwright heads to Resus where paramedics rush in a 14-year-old girl having a prolonged epileptic seizure.

It’s been a busy night at Barnsley Hospital’s Casualty Department, so the corridors are already packed full of patients when Sister Benita Wainwright arrives to head the shift.

In charge today at Barnsley Hospital’s Casualty Department is Consultant Doctor Julian Humphrey, ‘Emergency departments may look very chaotic but there’s a reasonable amount of structure. It’s organized chaos!’

Barnsley Casualty is facing one of its toughest shifts to date. With no children’s beds available across the whole of Yorkshire and a department filling up with poorly children the hospital is under pressure.

Registrar Doctor Gemma Hartshorne prepares to treat a man who has suddenly lost all feeling in his foot. Loss of blood flow is turning Roger's foot white - urgent treatment is needed to prevent amputation.

Trainee Advanced Nurse Practitioner Chantelle Proctor assesses a 49-year-old man rushed in by ambulance. Philip, who has a heart condition, collapsed at home and has been vomiting for the last ten days.

While people enjoy a most wonderful time of the year, Barnsley Hospital Casualty is open for business as usual, and the team are getting into the Christmas spirit. Consultant Doctor Julian Humphrey is leading the festive shift.