The city's new state-of-the-art hospital remains unfinished, three years after it was due to open, so two of the biggest hospital trusts are planning an ambitious merger. But this means that hundreds of patients and staff have to be transported across the city, while all the operating theatres bar one are closed.

Eighty-one-year-old Joe has been left with a hole in his heart after suffering a heart attack, and face a complex procedure that carries a high-mortality rate. Ellie, 28, is one of the growing population of adults with congenital heart disease, who had devices fitted into their hearts as children, and need further procedures as they get older. Already cancelled twice before, she hopes that this time her operation to replace her pulmonary valve with keyhole surgery will go ahead, so she can begin to plan her wedding to Jade.