Only 50 years after its inception, that jewel in the British political crown and by now the biggest employer in Europe, the NHS, is failing due to a combination of chronic under funding of essential services, uncontrollable expansion of an already top heavy administrative hierarchy, the inapporpriate use of hopital funding and lack of experienced, dedicated senior managers.
Andrew Ryan, a disillusioned but dedicated Blood Specialist at Eastwich General Hospital and self-appointed champion of the patient and their rights, has major problems. Middle-aged and divorced for some years his constant battling with administration over the use/misuse of hospital funding has made him a number of powerful enemies within the district.
Despite his cynical perception of the opposite sex he falls in love with an attractive young drug rep, Victoria Hall, who has been assisting him with a new trial for the treatment of leukaemia.
Against a background of the failing service with the increasing clinical mistakes and a spate of sudden unexplained deaths of young female patients, he battles on almost single handed believing there is still time to save or "cure" the ailing service.
When the hospital's Chief Executive, David Marshall, develops leukaemia and persuades Andrew to treat him at Eastwich, Andrew sees this as a golden opportunity in his cursade to confront him regarding the NHS policies.
However, the situation becomes fraught when certain accusations are made against Andrew, one of which is that he has accepted large financial rewards from certain drug companies. As the net tightens he must fight to clear his name at a time when Victoria has been admitted to hospital foracute surgery and develops serious post-op complications.