Holby City Hospital faces the consequences of a blood shortage in the Casualty Christmas special.
The episode begins with a nurse telling hospital staff that “blood supplies are low” before patients from an eight-car pile-up are admitted alongside a six-year-old girl needing a blood transfusion on Christmas Day
Among the car crash victims is a father-of-two named Dominic who is refusing blood and risking his life after the death of his sister, who had unknowingly been given infected blood in the 1980s during childbirth.
The episode features testimonies from real-life contributors who have faced problems as a result of blood donation issues in the UK, including a man who had haemophilia and was a victim of the infected blood scandal.
He said he was infected with HIV and hepatitis C by the time he was five.
A postman delivering packages on Christmas Day is also a victim of the car crash, and needs a roadside blood transfusion.
During the episode, nurse Cameron Micklethwaite played by Barney Walsh – son of The Chase presenter Bradley Walsh – declares the hospital is “out of blood”.
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In one of the real-life testimonies, the father of a young woman who had a rare blood cancer said she was “utterly reliant on the generosity” of those who donated blood.
“It gave us three and a half precious years with her,” he said.
The episode also features paramedic Iain Dean volunteering to pick up more blood as the hospital’s supply dwindles, before becoming involved in a car accident.
In an interview, a real-life volunteer blood courier says: “We do it because we’re saving people’s lives.”
