BBC documentary goes behind the scenes at Queen’s and King George hospitals

A documentary series about the nursing staff at Queen’s and King George hospitals is due to air on BBC One next week.

The show, Saving Our Nurses, focuses on an initiative by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) designed to reduce the number of nurses leaving their jobs.

The five part series explores the relationship between young nurses and their more experienced mentors, who provide emotional support on tough days, listen to concerns and give the newly qualified recruits the motivation to keep going.

Staff in different wards at the Romford and Goodmayes hospitals feature on the programme, from accident and emergency nurses dealing with one of the trust’s first suspected coronavirus cases to a midwife questioning her career choice after struggling to perform an important procedure.

Kathryn Halford, BHRUT’s chief nurse and deputy chief executive, came up with the idea for the scheme after watching Robert De Niro film The Intern, where he plays a man who returns to work after retiring and shares the benefit of his experience with a younger colleague.

She said: “We are so proud of our senior intern team and their work to support our new nurses, so we’re hugely excited that everyone else will now get to see them in action.

“I remember my early days on the wards as a newly qualified nurse, it can be daunting and I would have felt very lucky if I’d had the support of a team like this back then.”

Staff mental health is among the key topics focused on in the documentary, which also looks at one nurse dealing with dyslexia and the struggle of another who is feeling homesick after relocating from the Philippines to pursue a career in the NHS.

A BBC spokesperson said: “Saving Our Nurses examines the success of a trailblazing scheme designed to keep nurses in the NHS.

“With over a century of experience between them, the ‘intern team’ at an east London trust has slashed the number of nurses leaving the profession and the institution.

“As cameras get a unique insight and follow the team over the three weeks preceding the coronavirus crisis, will their current cohort of newly qualified nurses decide to stay?”

Saving Our Nurses is due to air on BBC One at 10am each day from Monday, June 8 to Friday, June 12. All episodes will also be available afterwards at bbc.co.uk/iplayer