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True North

Series 12

Life on the List

Duration: 39 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC One Northern Ireland HDLatest broadcast: on BBC One Northern Ireland HD

Available for years

Life on the List reflects the ongoing success of the pioneering work of the Belfast City Hospital's renal unit, which has helped make Belfast a world-renowned hub of transplantation, dialysis and research. With more 'live' transplants performed here than anywhere else in the world, this film documents everyday life inside the renal unit, in its 50th anniversary year.

The earliest treatments for kidney disease in Belfast were introduced in 1959, before the first pioneering transplant operation some nine years later. The renal services centre was formed by Molly McGeown, a talented young doctor who would go on to earn a global reputation. From the transplant co-ordinators and hospital staff to the patients and donor families, this poignant, intimate and revealing film illustrates the unfolding emotional and medical journeys of some of those involved in the unit's 50-year story.

With people dying in the UK every day while waiting for a transplant and thousands of others sitting on the waiting list, Life on the List charts the human stories behind the work at the Belfast renal unit, the highs and lows, the laughter and tears, the hopes and fears. These are the stories that are the ongoing reality for the many men, women and children whose lives literally depend on this place. Show less

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