Behind the scenes at CUH
A new documentary series which began airing last night, 7 January, explores the work and challenges experienced by both staff and patients at Cork University Hospital (CUH).
The six-part series, which was produced by Indiepics and Scratch Films for RTÉ, will air on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player this month. It goes beyond the headlines and behind the scenes at one of Ireland’s biggest and busiest hospitals.
‘Any Given Day: Cork University Hospital’ was filmed over the course of six months at the facility. It offers access inside CUH, capturing the round the clock shifts of thousands of professionals who work tirelessly to deliver care. Through staff stories and patient journeys, ‘Any Given Day’ tells a story of a health service in action.
From the pressurised emergency department to the precision of complex life changing surgeries, this series reveals the high stakes and life changing stories unfolding everyday inside CUH.
A spokesperson for RTÉ said: “On ‘Any Given Day’, 4,000 staff come to work at Cork University Hospital. On any given day, they care for approximately 800 inpatients, 800 outpatients and more than 240 emergency cases”.
“On any given day at CUH, hearts are broken and hearts are mended, lives are lost and lives are saved,” they said.
The series follows extraordinary moments of care and emergency. Viewers witness teams respond to a cyclist who has been airlifted to the hospital following a serious road collision, while elsewhere doctors face complex decisions as an expectant mother undergoing cancer treatment attends a critical pregnancy scan.
In the Emergency Department, staff treat everything from sports injuries to sever accidents, including patients rushed in after seizures or traumatic chest injuries. The series captures high-stakes procedures, from emergency stroke interventions to complex surgeries, all while families and loved ones wait anxiously for news. Each episode follows staff shifts and patient journeys across the hospital, with every story captured over the course of a single day.
Together, these moments combine to tell a larger, compelling story of the hospital on any given day.