The Royal Free reveals its transplant services

During the first lockdown, many people were reminded of just how important the NHS is to Britain.

In those early weeks, a lot of the population chose to show their gratitude with a weekly round of applause, but the nation’s broadcasters went further with several documentaries exploring the challenges frontline medical workers faced.

Among the most acclaimed was the two-part Hospital Special: Fighting Covid-19, which was filmed at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust from the first day of lockdown and over the peak of the pandemic.

BBC2 controller Patrick Holland, says: “Hospital Special: Fighting Covid-19 was one of the most candid, challenging and brilliant programmes to have documented this crisis. It has been our privilege to reflect the work of the staff and the lives of the patients at the Royal Free London.”

Now though, Hospital is back to find out what happened when normal services began to be re-instated. As viewers who have seen the first two episodes will know, it has presented the medics with many new challenges. Not only are waiting lists predicted to double by the end of this year but many patients are reluctant to return to hospital, even if they need urgent treatment.

But the series does show just how hard the staff are working to try to get things back on track. Caroline Clarke, Royal Free London Chief Executive, says: “We are delighted to be able to continue working with [production company] Label1 and the BBC following the overwhelmingly positive response from viewers, and our staff, to Hospital Special: Fighting Covid-19. Our staff did an incredible job of showcasing the efforts taking place across the NHS in response to this devastating pandemic. Their skill, commitment, kindness and compassion were there for all to see. As we embark on the new challenge of delivering NHS services in a post Covid-19 world, we’re looking forward to continuing to share our story with the public.”

This week’s episode focuses on the impact of Covid-19 on the Royal Free Hospital’s transplant services, which treat some of the most vulnerable patients.

A specialist centre for both kidney and liver transplants, it would normally perform around 140 transplants a year in each discipline, but from March, the operations were largely unable to continue. To add to the pressure, patients with kidney disease who are on dialysis and waiting for a transplant are extremely vulnerable to Covid-19; a quarter of the hospital’s dialysis patients who caught the virus during the first wave of the pandemic died. This episode shows how the service was able to resume due to dropping numbers of Covid cases as well as the implementation of new infection-control protocols.

The department is keen to make the most of this window of opportunity, and has performed three months-worth of transplants in just five weeks.

However, as the hospital sees the numbers of Covid-19 cases rising again, it leads to questions about how long they will be able to offer these life-changing operations.

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