A severe shortage in beds showed the NHS crisis in its true light as BBC2's new documentary, 'Hospital' , followed the story of two patients at St Mary's Hospital.
Viewers were left astonished after watching Paddington staff members in the six part series torn in a dilemma involving a cancer patient and a woman needing immediate surgery.
Wednesday night's (January 11) programme followed Janice who was shown being rushed to the hospital after suffering from a ruptured blood vessel.
At the same time, cancer patient Simon is seen prepped and waiting for surgery to remove a tumour from his oesophagus.
Both need to be in the intensive care ward - but, while there are enough surgeons to perform both operations, there is only one bed remaining.
Heartbroken viewers watched as surgeons admit Janet could bleed to death if she was not attended to, yet Simon had already had his operation pushed back before.
Simon is told that, if Janice survives the ambulance ride, she will take the remaining space in the operating theatre.
If she dies en route, Simon's operation will go ahead and the 67-year-old cancer patient is asked how that makes him feel.
Fighting back tears, he answers with just two words: "Guilty, actually."
In this case, the blocks fall against Simon, whose surgery is postponed for a second time.
Viewers were in for a further tragic revelation however - although Simon did actually get his operation, just a day later, he died six weeks after contracting a blood and immune disorder known as HLH.
West Londoners took to Twitter to express their heartbreak after watching the every day struggles NHS staff have to make.
While some mentioned a lack of funding, others blamed the government for being "naive" about the situation.
Hospital continues next Wednesday at 9pm on BBC Two
Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.
You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.
Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now! .
