​Wednesday TV Choice: Saving Lives in Cardiff (BBC2, 9pm)

Figures show that NHS England staff delivered a record 18 million treatments in 2024, more than half a million more than the previous year, but high levels of hospital occupancy continue to impact the flow of patients, forcing dedicated staff to make difficult decisions about which admissions should be treated next.

It’s easy to diagnose why TV programme makers are fascinated with the inner workings of the NHS and the army of people who work tirelessly to keep the nation in tip-top shape. One such show, Saving Lives In Cardiff, returns to showcase life-affirming stories from three key Welsh hospitals that are on the front line of surfing a never-ending wave of emergency cases.

University Hospital of Wales is the largest facility in the capital, serving a population of nearly 1.5m people. Battle resumes each day to chip away at the longest waiting times in history; the hospital’s well respected cardiology department relies on a team of five consultant cardiac surgeons to juggle a waiting list of almost 90 patients on top of the emergency cases that barrel through the doors demanding immediate attention.

Going above and beyond is par for the course for consultant surgeon Stuart Quine in the ear, nose and throat department. He understands that desperate times call for cool heads and the appliance of technology to science. This week’s case, father-of-two Terry, has his life in Stuart’s hands. Tests show Terry has an aggressive, hard-to-reach malignant tumour at the back of his nose and the growth will soon become inoperable unless the team at University Hospital of Wales intervenes.

Stuart plans to access the tumour using state-of-the-art robot technology – a groundbreaking operation that has been performed only a few times in the UK but never in Wales. The risks are high, causing anxiety for Terry and his wife, but Stuart soaks up the pressure as he prepares to make his moment in history.

There is also intense pressure in the hospital’s neurosurgery department where 27-year-old Courtney is at the top of the waiting list of consultant Ravi Nannapaneni, one of the 13 consultants in the busy unit. Courtney has a rare condition called Chiari malformation and she is experiencing numbness in her feet and legs because part of her brain is pushing down into her spinal canal. Ravi needs to delicately remove a small part of Courtney’s brain to relieve pressure on her spinal cord, otherwise the patient could experience double vision and limb paralysis.

Over at University Hospital Llandough, 51-year-old martial arts fan Tyerone requires the urgent attention of cardiac surgeon Indu Deglurkar. Tyerone is passionate about exercise so is shocked to learn he requires major open-heart surgery as a priority. When Indu begins the procedure, she quickly discovers that the operation will be more challenging than expected. Prescription: heart-in-mouth suspense.