The Big Hospital Experiment

Fourteen young volunteers are put to work on the busiest wards of the Royal Derby Hospital. They get some training, but are still shocked at the responsibility.

The volunteers embark on their second week at Royal Derby Hospital, where some participants struggle to deal with the difficult realities of life and death. Michael and Piotr work alongside the emergency team to assist an elderly patient who has fallen in her garden, while Alishba offers support to the mother of a young boy who has been brought in for an MRI.

The young volunteers begin their third week at the Royal Derby Hospital and Senior Nurse Karen gives them more responsibilities, as she sends four volunteers to two new wards. One of the youngest volunteers on the programme is Fin, who, at 19 years old, wasn't sensitive enough to the needs on the Cancer Ward and was asked to leave. Fin and Michael are moved to the Elderly Care Ward, where they are tasked with providing care for 101-year-old patient John, a wartime Spitfire pilot.

As the volunteers embark on their final week of the scheme, The Royal Derby Hospital senior staff assess the success of the experiment. Meanwhile, Michael struggles to perform personal care for patients in the elderly care ward, and the volunteers' personal prejudices are challenged when a homeless patient who is suffering from alcoholism is brought into the hospital. Last in the series.