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The critical care unit at Nottingham University Hospitals takes care of the Trust's sickest patients. Although it has 58 beds, on most days it is completely full. The unit must take life-threatening cases coming in through A&E and also be able to accommodate patients who need to recover from the most serious operations. It is the job of consultant Dave Selwyn and the critical care team to balance the competing demands made on the unit.

51-year-old Ruth will need a critical care bed to recover from major surgery to her spine. On the morning of her operation, there is only one bed available for the six patients who are booked in for major surgery that day. All of them will need a critical care bed or their operations may have to be cancelled. Ruth has a thoracic disc pressing on her spinal cord which, if left untreated, could cause paralysis. It is a very rare condition, affecting just one in a million people. Her operation has been cancelled once before due to a lack of critical care beds. Hopeful that a bed will be made available later in the day, Ruth's surgeon Bronek Boszczyk decides to go ahead with the operation.

In A&E, the trauma team are called to deal with two patients who have been involved in a major road traffic accident. Ravi, 29, has been run over by the side of the road as he came to the aid of George, 89, who had himself been involved in a serious crash. Both are thought to have life-threatening injuries which may require one of the scarce critical care beds. With the unit full, the critical care team must now do all they can to make space available for the new patients potentially coming their way.

Joe, 75, needs a critical care bed to recover from an urgent operation to remove part of his pancreas which has a suspected tumour. Known as a whipple procedure, it is among the highest risk operations. One in 20 patients do not survive. Joe's daughter Stephanie, supports his decision to go ahead with the high-risk surgery but is still extremely concerned.