Everything we don't see in medical dramas
In recent weeks, we've seen doctors take to the streets again to protest the new Statute of Autonomy. These protests highlight a stark reality: the healthcare system is operating under constant tension between dedication, resilience, and precarious working conditions. Now, La 2 Cat offers us a way to explore this ecosystem through a docuseries. Local hospitalThe cameras access different healthcare centers in Catalonia and accompany doctors, nurses, maintenance staff, patients, and their families. The production is austere, but this lends it great narrative honesty.
Accustomed to medical dramas, this clash between fiction and the real pulse of life inside a hospital is what shakes the viewer. Local hospital There are no medical heroics or geniuses making extraordinary diagnoses. Nor is there any unrestrained drama. There are no spectacular shots, no elaborate lighting, and no music designed to induce a premeditated emotional atmosphere. But the constantly moving camera skillfully guides the viewer's gaze. The aseptic and elegant staging of fiction becomes a functional choreography. The sounds of gurneys and hospital beds in the corridors, the rustling of cellophane as medical instruments are unwrapped, and the alerts from patient monitoring equipment all come into play. Routines, waiting, the invisible work, emotional management, phone calls to inform, and the real way of communicating good and bad news, and even explaining uncertainty, all emerge.
Local hospital It doesn't ask us who will be responsible for saving the life of a critically ill patient in front of us. The most endearing and beautiful part is precisely observing how the healthcare system holds up and all the effort it takes to maintain it, including the human aspect. There's no glamour whatsoever, but there's a great deal of empathy towards the patients and the various professionals involved in their care and daily maintenance. Medical dramas captivate us by showing us the exceptional and the cathartic moments. In this documentary series, what hooks you is precisely the inner workings of the entire infrastructure. And a very different element from fiction: the emotional restraint, both of the professionals and the patients who, in front of the camera, want to show their best attitude despite the adverse circumstances. It's obvious that in Local hospital There's also an off-screen side to which we don't have access, the most thankless aspect of the sector. But it's worth watching, because while the news focuses on the figures and indicators of the healthcare system's precariousness, this series shows us the work and the human toll that, nevertheless, keep the system functioning, and why it needs to be better protected.