Looking at 2024 through media
As we look forward to 2025, we have looked back at some of the amazing stories told in our hospitals through the media in 2024.
13-year-old Chapman kicked off January with an inspiring musical performance at The Royal London Hospital. Born blind, with speech and language difficulties, Chapman is a talented pianist, passing his grade 8 exam when he was just 11. BBC London covered his amazing performance for our visitors.
In February, ITV News Health Correspondent Rebecca Barry joined our Physician Response Unit, as they work to relieve strain on A&E waiting times by bringing the hospital service directly to patients.
Then in April The Evening Standard visited The Royal London Hospital to speak our consultant trauma and vascular surgeon, Martin Griffiths about his experience tackling knife crime in one of the busiest trauma centres in Europe, as part of a wider feature about people on all sides of London’s knife crime epidemic.
May saw Karl Mercer, from BBC London news, following our staff at Newham Hospital while they moved the most critically ill patients in the hospital from an old unit, to a brand new one.
We revisited Martin Griffiths’ work in June, as he shared the reality of knife crime in London and the impact of the violence reduction service with The Times as part of their Crime and Justice Commission.
As we headed towards summer, The Nursing Times covered our story of love in July, highlighting the positive affect our recognition platform, Barts Hearts, has had on our workforce, by giving our staff the chance to call out everyday acts of kindness at work.
Also in July, our experts from The Royal London Hospital, Martin Griffiths, Karim Brohi and Neal Durge featured in BBC Radio 4’s documentary: The science behind knife crime, presented by trauma doctor, Saleyha Ahsan.
Channel 4’s Emergency series returned to our screens in August, which looked at how four major trauma units across London (at The Royal London, King’s College, St George’s and St Mary’s hospitals), ambulance and air ambulance services work together to provide highly specialised care to critically injured patients.
In October the CEO of Whipps Cross Hospital, Amanjit Jhund shared his reflections as a patient about his recent healthcare journey with The Health Service Journal. Written from Amanjit’s perspective, the piece includes his experience of treatment, and the importance of Equality. Diversity and Inclusion.
The beginning of Winter welcomed girls allowed members, Kimberly and Nadine, to the Royal London Hospital in November, to speak with families whose lives had been altered by retinoblastoma; an eye cancer which is typically diagnosed in babies and children aged under six, for BBC’s Children in Need.
Also in November, BBC Northern Ireland visited our women’s health hub at Mile End Hospital, which was set up in December 2023 with the aim of reducing waiting lists for gynaecology care.
The final month of the year was busy with a visit from Sky news to Whipps Cross Hospital to speak with staff about winter challenges following a rise in flu cases. Channel 4’s Victoria Macdonald also met our pathway team at The Royal London Hospital, who help homeless patients access safe accommodation and support services after hospital discharge. Newham Recorder visited our brand new ITU unit at Newham Hospital and also reported on the hospital’s Christmas light switch on, featuring a special musical performance from Newham Primary Schools. To round off December South London news covered MP Liam Conlon’s special Christmas visit to the ward he grew up on at The Royal London Hospital to thank NHS staff.
We look forward to highlighting more inspirational stories from our colleagues and patients with you in 2025!