Wrexham children's ward opens its doors for new BBC Wales TV series
A new fly-on-the-wall TV series from BBC Wales will give an intimate and often emotional view of the daily real-life drama faced by the young patients, their families and the medical staff at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
Published: 17 October 2017
Wrexham Maelor children’s ward made us feel so welcome. They are an amazing team, and Wrexham is very lucky to have them.
The Children’s Ward, to be broadcast in three parts on BBC One Wales from Thursday, October 19, highlights the challenging and stressful - but uplifting - daily lives of the nurses and doctors on the ward.
The Maelor is a busy hospital - the second-largest in Wales - and its children’s ward has a dedicated staff of over 70. This is the first time TV cameras have been allowed in to follow its every move.
The series is produced for BBC Wales by Criccieth-based production company Chwarel and, at a special premiere screening of the series at Glyndŵr University last week, director Sioned Wyn paid tribute to the staff of the ward for their help in making the programmes.
“Wrexham Maelor children’s ward made us feel so welcome,” said Sioned. “They are an amazing team, and Wrexham is very lucky to have them.”
The first programme includes the story of local 6-year-old boy, Llew, and his parents, Pete and Llinos. Llew has quadriplegic cerebral palsy with global delay, and is brought in to the ward due to a heavy cold. Because of his condition it needs to be dealt with swiftly.
Their story gives an insight into the pressures faced by parents of children with special health-care needs. Pete gave up his job to become Llew’s main carer two years ago.
“It was a difficult decision,” says Pete, “but I think it’s one of the better decisions I’ve made in my life because looking after Llew is so rewarding and I get to spend a bit more time with him. Obviously I’ve got to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to see to him, but that’s part of my job, that’s part of being a carer. But you’ve still got to have the balance of carer and dad - I don’t want to be a carer all the time, I want to be a dad as well.”
Llew’s mother, Llinos, adds: “There are times when we dread taking him into children’s ward because we know we’re going to have to stay. It sounds awful but we don’t want to be in hospital all the time and there are some times when you can be there all day, just waiting to be seen because the doctors and nurses are busy.
“And when you think, I’m just about sorted, I’m fine... something else happens and you never can take your eye off the ball, because taking my eye off the ball means he dies...”
Just a few hours later, their decision to bring Llew into the ward is fully justified, when he develops pneumonia and part of his lung collapses.
At this point it’s clear that Llew needs specialist care, and the ward calls for the assistance of NWTS - the North Wales and North West Transport Service - to take him to Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool.
Llew spends two weeks there and, thankfully, makes a full recovery.
MCR
