999: Critical Condition | Series 6 Preview (5)

The new breath-taking series returns to the front line of Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Filmed in the heart of the action at one of the UK’s busiest trauma centres, viewers see exactly what it takes to treat the most critically ill patients. Capturing the unprecedented challenges that the staff in Resus face every day, each exhilarating episode will follow real time treatment as life-or-death decisions are made under the most intense pressure.

In this extraordinary first episode we encounter a man who fell from a scaffold, impaling himself upon a flagpole. And a 73-year-old faces life changing injuries after an accident at home, and an open neck wound needs emergency surgery.

Chris was working at a church when he suddenly fell from a scaffold, but before he hit the ground, Chris caught one of the flagpoles mounted to the interior wall. The finial went into his thigh and exited through his scrotum. Paramedics rush Chris into Resus where the staff at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital are standing by to treat him. His situation is critical. The flagpole is still impaled through Chris, and one wrong move could kill or leave him with life changing injuries.

A multi team approach is required to remove the pole before infection sets in. Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeons will deal with his broken pelvic bone, Urology manage his Urinary system, and if any major blood vessels are damaged the Vascular surgeons will be needed. Can they remove the pole without causing any catastrophic injury to Chris?

Dennis was washing his windows when the ladder he was standing on gave way from underneath him. His arm is broken and his fingers dislocated, but the real concern is the pain in his back. At 73 years of age a spinal injury would be devastating for Dennis. An initial CT scan shows that damage has been done but he will need an MRI scan to find out the true extent of how bad the injury is and determine if Dennis will be able to walk again.

As night falls, the alert phone rings again, this time to announce that a man has a severe laceration to his neck. The wound is dangerously close to his carotid artery, which has a high blood supply.

It needs to be treated immediately but there’s a problem. The patient is intoxicated, which makes the treatment that much more challenging. To stitch the wound up requires precision, if the artery is transected then the patient could bleed out within minutes.

999: Critical Condition returns Tuesday 12th May on 5.