Rare insight into frontline nursing in NI

Nurses face many challenges, but are the team of dedicated frontline healthcare professionals that ensure our hospitals function and patients get the best possible care.

A new four-part BBC Northern Ireland observational series gets unprecedented access to nurses across a wide variety of health settings and disciplines in Health and Social Care (HSC).

Filmed over 12 months, it gives viewers an insight into the health service in Northern Ireland through the eyes of these nurses as they share their experiences caring for patients.

Nurses, made by Below The Radar TV, and starting on BBC One Northern Ireland on Wednesday, November 9, at 10.40pm – with all four episodes to view on BBC iPlayer – follows nurses working on the frontline across our Health Trusts, including Emergency Departments, Neonatal Units, working with prisoners and in mental health care.

The nurses talk candidly about the pressures they often face, including staffing issues or lack of beds, but they also talk about how nursing is rewarding. All while dealing with the added complications triggered by the Covid pandemic.

Victoria McTurk has just graduated from university and is working as a Staff Nurse in the Stroke and Rehabilitation Unit in Daisy Hill Hospital.

She initially didn’t think she was cut out to be a nurse but her granny convinced her she would make a great one. She says she could now do it for the rest of her life.

In the busy Emergency Department at the Ulster Hospital, Simon Bates, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, is dealing with the pressures of caring for patients as they arrive with a range of ailments.

The nurses care for patients’ bodies, and minds. Conor Martin is a Mental Health Nurse in Craigavon’s Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit.

Viewers get to witness the skills and experience needed to work in an environment where it is crucial to understand patients’ mindsets and thought processes so that their wellbeing can be looked after.

The series also goes out on the road with District Nurse Maria Betts and follows the work of husband and wife nursing team Oonagh and Barry Andrews in Omagh Hospital.

There’s also a look inside the Neonatal Unit in Altnagelvin Hospital with Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Angela Hughes, where the nurses look after some of the tiniest patients who could be the sickest in the hospital.

Viewers can expect to see patients being treated in many different settings with the nurses carrying out a range of procedures and duties.

n All four episodes will be available to view on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday, November 9, with the series starting on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.40pm on Wednesday, November 9).