Matron, Medicine and Me: 70 Years of the NHS

Lucy Alexander finds out about how the NHS looks after children and treats those with disabilities. Lucy's daughter Kitty suffered from transverse myelitis when she was seven. It is a rare neurological disorder where the body's immune system reacts to an infection causing inflammation and scarring in the spinal cord. The disease left her daughter fighting for her life and unable to walk. With her husband, Stewart, Lucy goes back to Evelina London, the children's hospital where Kitty was first treated, and talks to the doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit who saved her life. It was here that Kitty almost died, and there is an emotional reunion with the consultant who made the crucial decision of when to take her off life support. While she is at the hospital, Lucy learns about how the NHS has looked after children throughout its history and talks to staff and patients in the hospital today. One mother is waiting anxiously for a cuddle with her six-month-old daughter who is still on a ventilator recovering from a heart operation. Lucy is able to share her experiences as a mum and witness the moment when baby Ruby comes off. Thinking about her daughter's disability, Lucy also meets with a group of people who have lived with disability since the beginning of the NHS. In a moving discussion they talk about their often difficult experiences within a system that was often far too institutionalised. Lucy ends the programme by going with her daughter to the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire. Kitty spent three months in rehabilitation here getting support and physiotherapy. The family say thank you to the nurses responsible for her care and there is a tearful response as Lucy concludes that while the 'NHS might not be perfect, this journey has shown me how far it's come, and the fact the Kitty will grow up to be a happy, productive adult is the greatest gift the NHS could have given us.'.

Myleene Klass looks at the development of nursing in the NHS. She has a personal connection as her mother came to work as a nurse from the Philippines in the 70s. Myleene and her mum Magdalena travel to Northgate Hospital, where her mother started work 41 years ago. Magdalena gets emotional as the memories come flooding back. Myleene then travels to Belfast to pull on some scrubs and get to work, helping nurses on ward 4a at the famous Royal Victoria Hospital. As she helps to serve the lunch, she talks to staff and patients, some of whom are from the Philippines as well. She learns about the hospital's Victorian origins, looking at old parts of the hospital that still exist. The hospital was the first in Europe to be built around an innovative steam-driven air-conditioning system, and Myleene travels down to the basement to see it in action. By the time her mum came to work for the NHS, nursing and hospitals were changing rapidly, and Myleene travels to Londonderry to visit Altnagelvin hospital, the first completely new hospital to be built by the NHS. Opened in 1960, its multi-story design was revolutionary at the time. Myleene meets some nurses who were there the day it opened. They chat about getting to grips with the new technology and about a matron who used to walk the wards with her pet dog in tow. Back in Belfast, Myleene also looks at the Royal Victoria Hospital's recent history and the part it played in the troubles. She talks to nurses on the frontline, who tell her about the ethos of treating the bombers and the bombed, regardless of their politics. Finally, Myleene returns to Norfolk with her mum. They visit an old colleague and talk about the comradeship of nursing and Myleene finds out the secret of what happened to her mum's old uniform.

In the third programme of this series about the NHS, former JLS star Oritse Williams uses his experience of caring for his mum's MS to examine how the NHS has taken care of the nation's elderly population. His mum has recently moved into a new assisted flat and Oritse visits her to see how she is settling in. He talks to his mum about her MS and the impact it had on him growing up. Ortise then travels to Tredegar in south Wales to discover more about Aneurin Bevan, the man they call the father of the health service. He talks to a local man about the local workers' medical aid scheme that is said to have inspired Bevan to create the NHS. Oritse then travels to Cardiff to examine how the NHS cares for the elderly today by looking at a day hospital and a pioneering project that helps elderly people with mental health problems. He meets staff and patients as they receive treatment designed to keep them independent. He meets with a group of ladies whose husbands all suffer from various forms of dementia. Over an emotional conversation, he shares his experience of the strains of being a carer. Inspired by his visit to Wales, Oritse gathers his friends and family together to throw his mum a surprise party at her flat. He concludes that although his family have been through a lot, he is very lucky.

Miriam Margoyles travels to Scotland to unravel her father's Jewish roots. Joseph Margolyes was born in 1899 and grew up in the Gorbals. Back then it was a severely deprived area and Miriam believes it was these early experiences of poverty that drove him to train as a GP. Miriam goes to a surgery in the east end of Glasgow that is part of a group called The Deep End, which helps people in the most deprived areas. Glasgow has the lowest life expectancy in the UK and poverty still plays a huge part in health problems. Miriam meets some of the patients who are profoundly grateful for the health care they have received. Miriam also talks to a group of pensioners in another part of the city who remember what life was like before the NHS. They look at old government information films from the time and discuss how it felt for patients when the new service was launched. Miriam also travels north of Glasgow to find out how primary health care is delivered in some of the most remote areas in the UK. She travels to Lochgilphead to visit a GP-run clinic that works remotely with city based consultants. Although the centre only contains GPs, they are able to offer A&E and even transfusions and chemotherapy. Miriam meets a man whose life was saved by the clinic and talks to one of the GPs, Adrian Ward, who helped create this innovative practice. Miriam also goes to visit the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service, who can fit an emergency operating theatre into a couple of rucksacks and a helicopter. It's all a long way from her father's trusted black bag, but in the passion of the people she meets, Miriam also notes a lot of similarities.

Eric Knowles looks at the development of the NHS through his own harrowing personal experience as a child. When Eric was nine, he was hospitalised for six weeks with suspected leukaemia. The experience was lonely but not without its perks and the toys he was given sparked an interest in collecting which has never left him. Eric relives this experience by travelling the route he would have taken to hospital in a 1960s ambulance, complete with retired ambulance driver. After weeks of testing, Eric was finally diagnosed with glandular fever rather than leukaemia. Although being severely ill, his family were spared a disease that was then a death sentence. Eric meets with oncologist Dr Margaret Rokicka to discover how such a mistake could have been made. He also finds out that other advances have allowed the NHS to cure most childhood leukaemia. While at the hospital, he meets with a young patient who is currently receiving treatment. Remembering his experience as a porter at an auction house, Eric spends a shift with hospital porters Steven Shaw and Andy McHale. It's tough physical work that but it's steering the trolleys that Eric has real difficulties with. Proud of his north west roots, Eric also travels to Manchester to visit the hospital that was chosen to launch the NHS back in 1948. Eric finds out that the NHS had a difficult birth. He also talks to a group of people recovering from cancer about their experiences of the NHS today. Finally, Eric makes a personal journey to visit the daughter of the Burnley paediatrician who treated him all those years ago. He learns of the dedication of the doctor who shunned white coats and would take all the family to visit patients on Christmas day.