Saving Lives in Leeds

At Leeds General Infirmary, Professor Simon Kay stands ready to perform a rare double hand transplant; in neurosurgery, Kenan Deniz has two patients needing urgent brain surgery.

Surgeon Naved Alizai operates on two children needing urgent liver surgery, and endocrine consultants Sheila Fraser and Emma Collins prepare to remove a tumour from a patient’s neck.

Neurosurgeon Ryan Mathew must rebuild a man’s missing skull, and consultant Sheila Fraser removes a football-sized tumour from a patient’s abdomen, suspected to be cancerous.

Leeds General Infirmary plastic surgeon Chris West's patients today include 67-year-old Trevor, who needs surgery to remove small bits of tumour left behind from a previous operation. But Trevor suffers from anxiety and the stress of waiting is making his condition worse, so before long he tries to leave. Meanwhile, neurosurgeon Kenan Deniz operates on a tumour growing deep behind a patient's ear, which if not removed could paralyse her face.

Cardiac surgeon Betsy Evans operates on her longest-waiting patient, Andy, who has a hereditary heart condition and needs an urgent triple bypass. A lack of intensive care beds for after-surgery means he has been waiting on the ward for four weeks and, as he also has bipolar disorder, every day spent waiting has been a challenge for his mental health. Professor Simon Kay aims to perform hand surgery on a teenage patient whose fingers are bent inwards, having been born with a rare and incurable joint condition called arthrogryposis.

Kostas Papagiannopoulos's surgical list includes 79-year-old Barry, who has a suspicious growth on his lung. Previous attempts to diagnose it have failed, so Kostas uses keyhole surgery to remove a section of lung before sending it off for immediate analysis, waiting in theatre in case he has to proceed further. Meanwhile, Andrew Hogarth treats 52-year-old Roger, who has been on the cardiac ward for a week with a life-threatening infection.

Seventy six-year-old Barry is on the cardiac ward, waiting for a double bypass - but a shortage of beds means his operation has already been cancelled twice in two weeks. Cardiac surgeon Betsy Evans is hoping it will be third time lucky today as she prepares to take him into theatre. Others hoping their operations will go ahead are 57-year-old Dawn, who is having a cancerous tumour removed from her brain, and 15-year-old Jack, who has waited more than a year to correct his curved spine.