NURSES from East Yorkshire will be taking their place under the spotlight in the new year.
A handful of NHS staff in the region will be appearing in the fly-on-the-wall documentary Nursing The Nation.
The ITV programme-makers selected four regions to film the new series – East Yorkshire, Bath, Devon and Liverpool.
The majority of East Yorkshire's filming was with nursing staff employed by Humber NHS Foundation Trust in rural parts of the region, including Pocklington, Market Weighton and Goole.
A midwife from Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust is also in the series.
Trish Bailey, the general manager for the Humber trust's district nursing team, said: "When I first approached the staff about it, they were all shocked.
"Then they asked if they could all have makeovers.
"A few went on diets, which is hilarious – there was a lot of buzz and excitement."
Programme-makers – the same team behind One Born Every Minute – followed nurses making home visits from August to October.
They filmed them treating patients who are either unable to get to local doctor's surgeries and hospitals, or are being treated for a long-term illness at home.
Trish said: "We are very proud to have some of our staff in the programme.
"The NHS often gets a lot of bad press, but this will show how hard the nurses work.
"They have a story to tell."
The first episode will be broadcast at 8.30pm on Thursday, January 3.
The inaugural episode will feature some of the older patients on the nurses' books.
Viewers will meet Shonna, a district nurse in Bath, whose patients include a war veteran who has been registered blind and deaf. They also see Karen, a nurse for more than 30 years, who treats patients recovering from strokes.
The second episode, on Thursday, January 10, at 8.30pm, will feature stories of East Yorkshire patients.
Trish said: "Most of the role of the district nurse is done in the patient's home.
"They might support someone with an early discharge from hospital, or someone who might have stayed in hospital longer if they didn't have a district nurse available.
"The district nurses also do treatments that might otherwise require a hospital visit, such as dressing a wound.
"They also help manage long-term conditions such as diabetes or someone at the end of life who wants to be in their own home."
Visiting patients in their home, and spending time with them on a repeat basis, means many district nurses often form bonds.
Trish said: "They do get very close to their patients and the administration staff do as well.
"There are some heart-rending stories in the series and you get a glimpse of them coping with some difficult situations.
"Viewers will really get to see exactly what our district nurses do."
