The Nation's Health — Season 1, Episode 3: Chronic
Drama • 81 min • 1 season, 4 episodes
Episode synopsis
The third episode focuses on the closure of Nightingale block, which will save the health authority £560,000 (one-twentieth of the hospital’s expenditure) at the expense of 120 beds.
About The Nation's Health
The Nation's Health is a 4 episode series written by G.F.Newman based on his book of the same name, originally broadcast on the fledgling Channel 4 UK TV channel in 1983. The series consists of four episodes that are, in order, titled: Acute, Decline, Chronic, and Collapse. In it we are faced with a maelstrom of political issues, illnesses, fatalities, personal greed and professional vanities. As may be clear from these titles, the series draws a relentlessly bleak view of the NHS in 1980s Britain. The protagonist of the series is a newly-qualified doctor, Jessie Marvill (Vivienne Ritchie). The series follows Jessie through four different sectors of the NHS, although the episodes are not focused entirely through Jessie: the NHS is seen from a variety of different perspectives, from doctors and patients to administrators and kitchen staff.