Channel 4 return to the work of ‘The London Major Trauma System’

In the UK’s capital, a world-first system of hospitals, air ambulances and paramedics provides a safety net for 10 million lives.

Known as The London Major Trauma System, it has improved survival rates for major trauma patients by 50%.   With access right across this system, Emergency is a present-tense medical documentary box-set – four serial episodes following the minute-by-minute decisions trauma teams make to treat the most serious cases: from life-saving interventions at the road-side to A&E critical care, from cutting-edge surgery to painstaking rehabilitation.

The ground-breaking UK medical documentary series will be stripped over four nights, Monday 12^th August 2024 to Thursday 15^th August 2024. In the first episode  54-year-old pedestrian João has been in a collision with a bus in South London.  London’s Air Ambulance and an Incident Response Officer specialising in major trauma incidents have been dispatched.  João has a serious crush injury to his leg – breaking bone and stripping away his skin.  He is sent to King’s College Major Trauma Centre in London, where Orthopaedic Surgeon, Ibraheim, will try to piece together João’s shattered bones, “there is a very high risk we can’t save his leg.” 

Over at The Royal London, Emergency Medicine Consultant, Michael is treating a trauma patient from France.  38-year-old paratrooper, Lance Corporal Lee, was on holiday when he suffered multiple life-threatening injuries after a paragliding accident.  His wife Katy is with him and explains he had life-saving surgery to fix his dissected aorta – the main blood vessel that comes from the heart – and French surgeons inserted metalwork to keep his shattered spine together.

Michael is worried that Lee may have damaged his spinal cord as he has lost sensation in his legs. Katy brings the children in to see their dad, “the kids think of their dad as a real-life superhero … I haven’t told them their dad might not walk again.” Michael refers Lee to Orthopaedic Surgeon Pete, who reviews the scans and explains how the impact of his fall has compacted his pelvis and spine, shoving bone into his spinal canal.  To fix him will involve high-risk surgery, “we will throw absolutely everything we can to get Lee walking again, but we really don’t know how that’s going to go.” 

In the second episode, 33-year-old mum-of-three Jeymi is at St Mary’s Hospital after suffering a serious femur facture and broken knee joint after the taxi she was travelling in crashed into a lamppost.  Orthopaedic Surgeon, Rajarshi and his team are carrying out emergency surgery to fix her leg with screws and plates, “it’s a life-changing injury that needs urgent intervention to get her back to her family”. Husband William waits anxiously outside, “the kids are always asking … when is Mum coming back?”

Rajarshi is concerned that the fracture isn’t aligned, “you have to be a perfectionist.” He instructs the team to take out the screws and start again to give Jeymi the best chance of walking again.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Louie is at St Mary’s after having emergency surgery to repair a severed artery in his leg after he kicked a glass security door at school following a disagreement.  As Louie reflects on the accident, he describes how he’s “been bullied by these people at school” and how he feels “like I don’t belong anywhere.”  Senior nurse Jess helps Louie with his pain and explains “we see a lot of teenagers coming in after having episodes…being bullied at school.”  His mum Bobbie-Lee holds his hand, “he’s been through so much, I wonder how he will cope.” 

Highlights from the third episode sees 38-year-old Paratrooper Lee still at the Royal London Hospital with catastrophic spine, pelvis and leg injuries after a high-speed paragliding accident whilst on holiday in France.  After several complex operations, Lee has been lying in “traction” for two weeks, with 30 pounds of weights hanging from his knees and his skull, as doctors attempt to pull his pelvis out from his spinal canal.

Today, Spinal Surgeon, Brett, and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Pete, need to complete the job and re-fix his spine and pelvis into their proper position. Wife Katy says “all of our efforts are just going into trying to keep Lee in a positive mindset”.  But Lee’s scar tissue around the injury means the pelvis is still jammed in his spine.  They now need to carry out an even more risky manoeuvre using bone hooks and levers, something Surgeon Pete describes “as even more medieval”.  If this doesn’t work “Lee isn’t going to walk in a meaningful sense of the word”.  

In South West London, 86-year-old Veronica is at St George’s Hospital after being in a car accident with her husband Edward.  He was removing his ticket at the car park barrier when he careered into a wall.  Edward is luckily unscathed but his wife has a severe open ankle fracture, but doctors are concerned there’s a vascular injury causing an unexpected loss of blood.  Emergency Medicine Consultant, Sobi is worried that Veronica could lose her foot.

In the final programme 56-year-old plasterer Lee is at the Royal London Hospital, where he’s coming out of a medically-induced coma following a major car accident five days ago. After several complex surgeries and with one more big operation to go, Orthopaedic Surgeon Pete says “Lee’s body has already been through a hell of a lot, but without fixing his hip socket he won’t be able to walk again. He’s not out of the woods yet.”

Following intense rehabilitation at St Mary’s Hospital, 36-year-old Heidi is now at home recovering after a devastating dog attack. She reflects on how determined she was to get better and whilst examining the post-surgical scars on her arms and legs says, “I don’t like looking at it… but I’m lucky to be alive.” 

Emergency, Monday 12th to Thursday 15 August, 9pm