Rookie Nurses

They may be newly qualified, but dealing with life and death situations and everything in between is a daily reality for the rookie nurses – especially in A&E. This time, Mikey, 22, is part of the trauma team who help a teenage rugby player brought in by ambulance with severe concussion in Carmarthen.

In Aberystwyth, 24-year-old nurse Leah is unfazed when a patient arrives having suffered a freak lawnmower accident which led to an amputation. Amid medical dramas on the wards, there's a big moment for health care assistant Caitlin, who, after years of studying, is on her way to collect her new nurse's uniform, and is excited to join her colleagues in her blues.

Back on the wards, some of Wales's youngest nurses are dealing with all kinds of medical challenges that are thrown their way. In Carmarthen, there's no easing in for very newly qualified Caitlin, who has to learn fast in her first week in A&E. Across the ward, her friend and colleague, 22-year-old Mikey, battles to keep a patient with severe hypothermia alive.

On the Stroke Unit in Aberystwyth, a visit from Nelly the therapy dog lifts not just the patients' spirits, but the nurses' too, while nurse Gina helps keep morale high on the ward with her funny banter.

Nurse Leah, 24, has spent almost two months helping a patient, who's from the same farming community as her, recover after surgery. It's a sad but proud moment when he's finally well enough to leave.

Despite trying to stay out of trouble, nurse Mikey faces all the ward banter as suspect number one when a vital medicine machine malfunctions. Meanwhile, Caitlin, 21, faces her first shift in Resus as a qualified nurse. She holds her own well, but has a patient whose case shows just how fast things can take a turn in A&E.

Nurse Issie, 23, is literally the one holding the phone when an emergency call comes in to the Stroke Unit at Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth. She's happy that she is growing in confidence in helping stroke patients when they arrive, but is quickly reminded she has a lot to learn and experience to gain.

Meanwhile in A&E, nurse Mikey helps a man blue-lighted in after he was knocked off his bike by a car. Caitlin, 21, deals with a patient who has been admitted after having seizures, while in rheumatology, nurse Nivea is keen to retain her title as the cannulation queen.

Leah faces her biggest challenge so far when one of her patients tells her that he wants to die. Angelo has to keep up with a ward full of patients on the banter front, while Mikey thinks he's seen it all in A&E when a patient comes in who has accidentally been run over by his wife.

Despite the pressures, the newly-qualified nurses all reflect on how far they've come, including colleagues and friends Gina and Issie, whose months of work with stroke patients has seen them make huge progress.