If 10 people change their behaviour it's worth the criticism, says MKUH's Chief Exec on COVID-19 documentary

    On the NHS Frontline, a documentary filmed at Milton Keynes Hospital about COVID-19, will air tonight on ITV.

    Last week, Ross Kemp visited frontline NHS workers as well as patients fighting the virus at the hospital. Some residents had criticised Milton Keynes Hospital for allowing this despite the strict restrictions that family members cannot visit ill patients.

    Speaking to MKFM, Professor Joe Harrison, Chief Executive, said that the hospital will consider the feedback once the programme airs this evening. 

    However, for the moment, Professor Harrison believes that the documentary emphasises the Government's important message to stay at home and save lives. He said: "If ten people change their behaviours on the back of this I think it is worth some of the criticism that we have received.

    "We are also looking at some of the comments that we have had. And, if there are ways of changing the way that we do things here on the back of the comments that we have received, we will do that. We haven't been through a pandemic before, and neither has anybody else. There are things that we can learn from this and do differently. I hope your listeners will know we will do that."

    The Chief Executive has also said he believes the documentary will appeal to a different demographic, allowing for a greater scope of people to understand the severity of the current pandemic.

    "We know that Ross Kemp will appeal to a different type of viewer from the standard BBC broadcasters," he added. "Ross Kemp has a very different reach, a very different audience, and I think it is important that as an NHS and as a media we ensure that all of these different demographics in our population have an opportunity to hear these messages and see what is going on in a way that appeals to them."

    Ross Kemp, an investigative journalist, is known for his hard-hitting documentaries. It seems that tonight's documentary will be just as eyeopening, showing the nation exactly how frontline workers are battling this virus. 

    "The programme itself shows two key things," Prof Harrison continued. "The first is the love, the care, and the way that the staff in our hospital are looking after people. And, I hope [that] families, relatives, the people of Milton Keynes will take some comfort from seeing just what is happening in some of these areas - the love, the attention, and the care that the staff are giving to the patients.

    "The second thing is the programme does take away some of the myths and some of the beliefs of what are out there about coronavirus. This isn't a virus that just attacks the elderly or those people with underlying conditions, it is a virus that does attack all sorts of different age groups and all sorts of people whatever their current health condition and that's such an important message."

    On The NHS Frontline will air tonight at 8:30pm on ITV.

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