General practitioner Dr Martin Hughes examines some common medical problems and follows patients as they seek treatment.
Colin Ash , 52, first experienced piercing pains in his chest two-and-a-half years ago. Like many patients with a heart condition he thought it was indigestion, and found it impossible to believe when he was told that it could be serious heart trouble. He remained unconvinced even when the specialist in Bristol judged that he was in urgent need of bypass surgery to save his life. It took weeks to persuade him to change his mind and join the queue for NHS surgery. Colin kept himself busy, painting and decorating for his own firm, and horse riding at weekends, but after nearly six months he was still waiting, and his family feared that time was running out. Would Colin reach the head of the queue before his heart stopped?
Producer Helen Thomas
Series editor Michael Latham