In this first episode, the team get straight to work. If they are to save lives, every second is vital for the trauma doctors in their search for clues. For a motor cyclist whose foot is mangled in a car accident, the team have to check every part of his body and the wreckage for clues to other injuries so that they can make the correct diagnosis. London’s Air Ambulance doctors race to stabilize a 19-year-old woman after she is hit by a van, and the team’s investigation reveals a potential spine injury with grave consequences. Weak, nauseous and pale, an elderly woman’s confusion makes the hunt for clues to her illness difficult. After a series of tests, the team finally make an unexpected diagnosis. After a 45-year-old cyclist with a head injury is rushed in by helicopter, the patient’s memory loss provides the team with a vital clue to his condition.
This week, the team carefully manoeuvre a 23-year-old man, who has fallen three storeys, out of a tight space and rush him to hospital. Internal bleeding could prove fatal and a damaged spine may leave him paralysed for life. The air ambulance team also races to stabilise an elderly man who has been hit by a skip lorry. His injuries are so serious that the accident may become the subject of a criminal investigation. Elsewhere, a young woman with a family history of aneurysms is experiencing dizziness. This could have potentially fatal consequences, but a series of diagnostic tests only deepens the mystery. Finally, paramedics race to King’s Cross railway station to revive a man suffering from a cardiac arrest, in the knowledge that every minute of their journey counts.
After a 12-year-old is hit by a van, the team examines both the boy's body and the vehicle for any further information about his condition. Elsewhere, a workman is badly burned in an electrical explosion and the medics must determine if he has suffered internal injuries before transferring him to the burns unit. An assault victim arrives at the Royal London Hospital with his life hanging in the balance, but the damage to his face makes it difficult to assess him, while a motorcyclist is rushed in after a high-speed crash.
Prepared for multiple casualties, the medics attend a crash involving several vehicles. One driver is suspiciously unconscious, although his body shows no signs of trauma. Elsewhere, a pedestrian is struck by a car and the trauma team perform a series of tests to establish the cause of his amnesia. Response time is always critical for the trauma staff – never more so than when paramedics rush to a reported shooting incident. This time, however, it turns out to be a hoax. Also this week, a hospital transport worker eventually regains consciousness, but the cause of his symptoms remains a mystery. Finally, when a man collapses in the street, the staff of the Physician Response Unit look for any clues to his condition. It could be anything from a pulled muscle to a full-blown heart attack, and prompt diagnosis will be crucial.
Trauma doctor Gareth Davies is called out to tend a 28-year-old fitness instructor who has been stabbed while walking through a park, while a cyclist is left with life-changing injuries after colliding with a bus.
A motorcyclist's leg is broken in a serious traffic accident and the medics try to determine whether he has sustained any hidden damage, while an 88-year-old woman suffers multiple life-threatening injuries when her mobility scooter is hit by a car. The air ambulance is called to the aid of a 49-year-old gardener who has fallen from a ladder, with Dr Gareth Davies and the team stabilising his severely injured leg at the scene before he is transferred to hospital.
A 20-year-old French student is rushed to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel after being stabbed just under his left armpit, and the air ambulance delivers a snooker-club manager who fell 10ft through plastic roofing and landed on his head. After an ambulance is held up by rush-hour traffic, a trauma doctor has to stop the vehicle to carry out a delicate operation to save her patient's life.
Emergency roadside surgery is performed on the 61-year-old victim of a traffic accident, while an elderly man is admitted to hospital suffering from excruciating pain following a car crash. A 73-year-old book-keeper is knocked down and doctors fear that she may never walk again, while medics are called out to treat a 17-year-old girl who has severe abdominal pain.
Anne Weaver attends a serious accident in north-west London involving a motorcyclist who is struggling to breathe, and is also distressed, confused and agitated, leading her to believe he may have bleeding on the brain. At the Royal London Hospital, an elderly woman is brought in after falling down a flight of stairs and Simon Walsh is worried that the ex-mountaineer might have potentially fatal internal bleeding. The air ambulance is called out after a man falls onto concrete while cleaning the windows on the first floor of his mum's house.
Ann Weaver treats a 73-year-old man who suffered serious injuries after falling down a flight of stairs, and is concerned about his abnormal breathing patterns. She then has a stressful journey from east to west London during rush hour to get to an 18-year-old who has been stabbed and is losing blood quickly. Finally, the Royal London's trauma team is called into action after a motorcyclist is brought in after a collision. The 26-year-old patient is complaining of pain in his left arm, but the damage to his crash helmet suggests he may have sustained a much more serious injury.
Documentary following the work of specialist medics. Dr Tony Joy and paramedic Bill Leaning attend to a 45-year-old man suffering a heart attack on a bus who is seconds away from his heart stopping completely. Orthopaedic surgeon Pete Bates leads a team attempting to rebuild a 44-year-old builder's pelvis, shattered in a 20ft fall. However, it will be months until doctors know if the man will be able to walk again unassisted
Documentary following the work of specialist medics. London's Air Ambulance is on the scene minutes after an 88-year-old woman is hit by a heavy goods vehicle. Dr Gareth Davies and paramedic Tony Montebello administer a roadside blood transfusion, but as she suffered life-threatening injuries, they must get her into theatre quickly. Trauma doctor Tony Joy worries about a builder who was under a wall when it collapsed, and a window cleaner who fell 15ft from his ladder is airlifted to hospital to have the full extent of his injuries established.
A doctor and paramedic rush to the aid of a 35-year-old woman who has collapsed in the street. Her heart has stopped and she is clinically dead, so they perform vital CPR for almost an hour in an attempt to save her. Medics also treat a 47-year-old man whose head has been crushed by a fallen tree, while London's Air Ambulance team is scrambled to a 55-year-old security driver who has been stabbed in the neck and a road traffic accident in which an 87-year-old man has been hit by a car.
The emergency medics rush into action once more. A doctor and paramedic rush to the aid of 57-year-old Sean, who has a serious head injury after falling down the stairs in a pub. The London Air Ambulance team is called to 45-year-old caterer George, who has been stabbed in the back and is deteriorating fast, while more emergency teams rush to help a five-year old with a severe leg injury and a 19-year-old hit by a car.
A doctor rushes to the scene of a road accident where a 23-year-old driver is trapped in his car which has rolled over into a ditch. The air ambulance is dispatched to a shopkeeper who has fallen eight feet onto concrete, and the medics worry the patient – who landed head-first – may have sustained a brain injury. Outside the M25, another emergency doctor is concerned that a 27-year-old woman may have damaged her spinal cord after a horse riding accident, and later treats a motorcyclist who has crashed into the central reservation.
As night falls over London, Dr Claire Park and paramedic David Gordedo are called to two separate stabbings – while back at the Royal London, a young mother arrives with a knife wound to her knee. She is losing blood fast, so Dr Simon Walsh performs a transfusion, buying enough time before she is rushed into theatre so the trauma surgeon can operate in an attempt to repair her severed artery and save her leg. Elsewhere, the air ambulance crew rushes to treat a motorcyclist who sustained a head injury after being hit by two cars.
