8:30pm Thursday, December 15 on TV One
In the final episode of 24 Hours In A & E, doctors at King’s College Hospital accident and emergency department in London deal with a population that is becoming more and more psychologically fragile.
A regular patient to King’s, who suffers from schizophrenia, is admitted after failing to take his diabetes medicine – it’s his nineteenth visit in a year. Meanwhile, a young girl seeks refuge with the mental health team. She’s in crisis and struggling to cope with life.
Psychiatric nurse Jenny has seen it all and reveals that the patients her team have to deal with are getting younger and younger. One patient with suicidal thoughts was just seven years old. Joseph, a 16-year-old schoolboy is rushed to A&E after suffering a suspected stroke and is joined at his bedside by his twin brother Elijah and their mother, as they await the results of a brain scan.
Clive, 61, a former betting shop manager is also suspected of having a stroke. Known as the ‘Memory Man’ in his youth he is now coming to terms with his diminishing mental abilities – but it may just be his anti-depressants, coupled with years of alcoholism that is his real problem.
Missed an episode of 24 Hours In A & E? Full episodes are available online. Go to www.tvnz.co.nz and click ‘on demand.’