In Episode Three of the documentary, filmed at Southmead Hospital, viewers witnessed a remarkable patient journey from the Emergency Department (ED), through to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Burns Unit.
The episode, which aired at 9pm on Tuesday 1 September 2026 and is available on BBC iPlayer, centres around patient, John, who had major specialist burns treatment following a shed explosion. Alongside the ED and ICU teams, the burns team, worked hard to ensure John made a full recovery from his injuries and showcased their dedication and importance as a service in Bristol and the wider South West region.
The Bristol Adult Burns Service, based at Southmead Hospital, is comprised of seven consultants and a specialist burns multi-disciplinary team including: burns nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, a psychologist and a Dietician. Together, the multi-disciplinary team provide holistic recovery support for burns patients, ensuring that they feel equipped and mentally prepared for the impact of their potentially life-altering injuries. The burns team work closely with other teams around the hospital including the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit team, Emergency theatres and the Bristol Laser service.
Southmead Hospital’s Brunel building provides modern state-of the-art facilities along with access to the latest dressing and artificial skin technologies. The service is currently trialling a new imaging system that harnesses artificial intelligence algorithms to estimate how long burn wounds take to heal.
After patients are treated for their acute injuries, they undergo rehabilitation by the therapy and scar management team and they have access to the latest scar treatments including LPG which uses vacuum-massage to alleviate skin tightness from surgery, pulsed dye laser, which softens scar tissue and fractionated CO2 laser, which prompts the body to produce collagen and tissue.
In 2025, the adult burns service treated a total of 2,375 burns patients ranging from age 16 to 98. As with John’s experience seen in the documentary, 371 of these cases were admitted to hospital by emergency services including 17 to Southmead Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
The most common types of burn injury that the Bristol Adult Burns Service see are flame injuries from outdoor bonfires and BBQs related to accelerants, cooking fires and house fires. Scald injuries are also common, typically from preparing food and hot drinks. A smaller proportion of injuries are from contact burns, chemical injuries and electrical injuries.
The Consultant Burns surgeons and Plastic surgeons who work in the adult burns service also care for children with burn injuries as part of the South West UK Children’s Burns Centre, based at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children at Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. This is the regional Paediatric burns service that cares for children with the most severe burn injuries across the entire South West region of England and South Wales.
The Bristol burns services are part of the South West Burns Clinical Network (SWBCN) made up of five specialised burns services including Bristol, Swansea, Salisbury and Plymouth and hosted at the Southmead Hospital Operating Unit. The network covers a population of approximately 8.9 million across the South West and South and Mid-Wales.
In children, the most common cause of burn is scalding from spilling hot drinks, particularly in children under the age of 5. The service recently published national data that reflected a recent rise in hot water bottle related injuries, which can potentially be linked to rising fuel costs.
In episode three of ‘Emergency 24/7’, the patient, John, sustained flame injuries from an explosion of lithium-ion batteries which then ignited petrol. Lithium battery related fires are becoming an increasing problem for UK fire services and burns services are seeing increasing numbers of severe injuries from such fires. Many of these occur during the charging of electric bikes and scooters.
Burns Consultant and Clinical Service Lead for the Bristol Adult Burns Service, Chris Wearn, said:
“As a team, we are all incredibly proud to feature in this new BBC documentary series. We believe this to be a unique insight into the care of patients with severe burns rarely shown before. We hope this episode will be of interest to viewers who will get to see the emergency care and ongoing treatment journey of patients like John, who have sustained severe burns.
“We want to thank our amazing allied services, including Bristol laser services, the Bristol 3D Medical Centre and the Bristol Centre for Enablement for their continued partnership to achieve the best outcomes for patients.”
Professor Tim Whittlestone, Chief Medical and Innovation Officer of Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We are delighted to celebrate our clinical specialties from ED, ICU, Surgery to our specialist burns service in the BBC ‘Emergency 24/7’ documentary.
“Providing access to the cameras and producers at Expectation TV has meant viewers can witness the skill and commitment of the Bristol Adults Burns Service at our Southmead site and how it continues to benefit populations in the whole South West region thanks to their ongoing innovation.”
