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.
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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”.
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.”
The special episode, called All I Want For Christmas, airs on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Saturday, and will be on BBC One at 9.20pm.
