Dr Natalia Ermalai can’t remember a time when her heart wasn’t set on joining the medical profession. “I knew it at age five,” says the neurosurgical registrar. “I wanted to be a doctor so I could help people. Now I’ve been practising neurosurgery for 14 years, and I still haven’t lost that feeling.”
“I realised at 17 that I wanted to use my education for something really positive,” he says. “For those of us in emergency medicine, you meet so many people on some of the worst days of their lives, and your skills help them get better. It’s a real privilege.”
A colleague, Dr Reston Smith has the challenging job of treating a man who stepped in front of a train. He’s also seen carefully explaining all that’s happening with the patient to his relatives in a private room. Meanwhile, Dr Roberts treats a man with an apparent stab wound.
“When I explain what my job is to friends who aren’t medical, they perceive it as extraordinary and very stressful,” says Dr Smith. “Parts of my job are indeed extremely stressful, and there are times where I feel under enormous pressure. But I’ve trained for a long time to do this work. My experience and expertise allow me to do it.”
Sometimes a patient has to be told very soon after admission that their condition requires urgent surgery, the outcome of which may be uncertain. Viewers see Dr Ermalai explaining to a 26-year-old motorcyclist that his road accident means he now faces possible paralysis.
Inevitably, there are times where the most skilful treatment and care don’t achieve what is hoped for. “We have to accept we aren’t omnipotent,” says Smith who, like Roberts, is married with a young family. “We do everything we can, yet there are times where that just isn’t enough and that’s really hard. It can take a toll on your personal life.
Colleagues lean on one another at these times, and further support is available when wanted.
It makes downtime especially important. For Dr Roberts, that can even mean watching the garlanded US medical television drama, The Pitt.
The Pitt, like the documentary series itself, features an increasingly familiar facet of emergency departments – the abuse of staff. Yet when asked about it, all three Southmead Hospital clinicians respond with generous empathy for the possible reasons behind it.
“I do see aggression and violence towards staff,” says Dr Smith. “We see a lot of people whose injuries mean they’re extremely frustrated. Emotion runs high. It makes me sad that people feel they have no other option than to display violence.”
“Honestly, I still feel that respect for the NHS from the public,” says Dr Ermalai. “The only difference is that people aren’t clapping us any more. People are still very grateful for what we do.
Her implicit reference to the future of the NHS is made without prompting. Roberts does the same. “I love that everyone gets treated by priority, according to your need,” he says. “That’s a huge testament to what the NHS means for the nation. If it were ever to go, it would be to the detriment of people in the UK.”
Emergency 24/7 airs Tuesday 18 August at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.
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Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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