BBC hospital dramas under attack

A top NHS manager has hit out at what he sees as the unrealistic and unprofessional portrayal of NHS workers in BBC dramas Holby City and Casualty.

In a "Scrubbing Up" column for the BBC website, Antony Sumara bemoans script lines where staff gossip as they treat patients and no-one washes their hands.

Mr Sumara took over Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust after "appalling" failings in care had been exposed.

He is currently working with patient groups and staff to restore confidence.

Earlier this year, a report from the Healthcare Commission detailed grave lapses in standards of care at the trust.

Families described "Third World" conditions, with some patients drinking water from vases and lying for hours in soiled bedding.

SUMARA'S CASUALTIES Staff who gossip, flirt and argue while they treat patients Common data breaches with patient records left in public Eating, drinking and smoking on duty Failure to promote good hygiene Staff saying how bored they are Staff, equipment and theatres lying idle Scrubbing Up: TV dramas 'misrepresent the NHS'

But in his article Mr Sumara suggests the job of building public trust is made harder by the BBC's portrayal of staff in which nurses refer to patients as "alkies" or the "woman who never shuts up".

He asks how patients can be expected to respect the NHS when its staff are routinely portrayed as "people who seem to come to work purely to continue their social life".

Whether it is chatting or conducting love affairs, he claims the dramas give an unrealistic view of what is in fact an "incredibly busy, demanding and hard-working vocation".

And while he says he accepts the majority of people are able to distinguish fact from fiction, he said it could not be denied that some people may think this is an accurate reflection of hospital life.

Casualty has been running on the BBC since the mid 1980s, and its spin-off, Holby City, from 1999.

The BBC notes that medical experts are consulted in producing both programmes.

A BBC spokesman said: "Although both programmes are set against the backdrop of a hospital it's important to point out that they are fictional dramas where much of action comes from the social interaction and sometimes the human error of the characters involved in the shows."

Arresting drama

It is not the first time these and other medical dramas have come in for criticism.

...having relationships

Many GPs complained about series such as Peak Practice for raising patients' expectations about the time a busy doctor is really able to spend with them.

But it was the BBC's Cardiac Arrest - which aired in the mid 1990s - which caused the most anger, with graphic scenes and dark humour.

The Royal College of Nursing complained its members were portrayed as "witless and sex-obsessed", while the then-Conservative government accused it of "running down" the NHS.

Casualty was itself the subject of analysis which concluded that the number of people overdosing increased dramatically in the week after an episode showed such a suicide attempt.

But the dramas have also been praised for raising public awareness of medical procedures - and potentially saving lives.

Casualty, for instance, was credited with providing one new father with the information he needed to deliver his baby in the back of his car, and unloop the umbilical cord when it got stuck around the infant's neck.

Mr Sumara called on the BBC to promote "the good work and professionalism" of the NHS.

However, the doctors' union, the BMA, noted that the main aim of such programmes was to entertain.

At the end of the day it's drama Dr Mark Porter BMA

"While soaps and dramas can be very powerful in getting across public health messages, for example about cervical or breast screening or safer sex advice, at the end of the day it's drama," said the head of its consultants' committee, Dr Mark Porter, adding that it was "supposed to be exciting".

But the director of the Patients Association, Katherine Murphy, said: "Whilst problems of poor practice shown in programmes like Holby City may not be commonplace, they certainly aren't unrealistic.

"The NHS has been warned on a number of occasions for losing patient data, for example."

The head of nursing at Unison, Gail Adams, said hospital dramas had a vital role to play in raising awareness of the profession and public health.

"Soap operas could include more examples of good practice, like the regular use of hand gel," she said.

"But ultimately, these shows are fiction and viewers realise that there is a clear line between them and reality."

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