> Canonical: https://drkishanrees.com/work/watmed-media/

# On the NHS documentary I was making, with Phil Hammond on BBC Radio Bristol

BBC Radio Bristol with Phil Hammond, 29 December 2016, 8 min 08 sec

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwehBT69f5w

Interviewed by Phil Hammond on his BBC Radio Bristol Breakfast show about an NHS documentary I was making with my childhood friend Jack: why we made it, and what we found.

Status: draft. The context and the transcript are awaiting approval; the transcript is built from the archive copy’s auto-captions and not yet verified against the recording.

### On the day

The morning after we talked about morale, Phil Hammond had me back on his BBC Radio Bristol breakfast show, this time to talk about a documentary I was making about the NHS with my childhood friend Jack, a filmmaker I'd known since primary school. Two mornings running, on the same channel, on my own terms: exactly the kind of standing invitation WatMed Media was built to earn.

### What we discussed

This was another genuine conversation, not a formal interview, so what follows groups the ground we covered. Phil's questions and framing are paraphrased; my answers are my own words from the recording, lightly edited for reading clarity.

**Phil Hammond** (paraphrased, from 0:00)

He picked up where the previous conversation left off, then turned to the film: I was travelling the country making a documentary about the NHS. What had I found?

**Dr Kishan Rees** (from the recording, 0:44)

> Jack and I, I went to primary school and secondary school with him. I asked him if he wanted to come on, but he wouldn't. I was surprised how Jack had no understanding about what it's like to be a doctor, and I was involved in the junior doctors' dispute, and I looked at his skills as a filmmaker and my kind of semi-presenter skills, which I'm trying to develop, and I thought, well, why not become a broadcaster where we can give the information to the public, and we're supporting doctors as much as we can, but then also for the public to start looking at the NHS and asking some questions: does it need fixing, and if it does, how can we fix it? We've travelled all over the country and we've done lots and lots of interviews.

**Dr Kishan Rees** (from the recording, 2:00)

> When people say, "I've always supported the NHS, but I've also had..." With an organisation as large as the NHS, facing the funding and staffing crisis it does, the important thing is that unless we're honest and open about it, we can't fix it. You have to be a bit grown up about the fact that we are flying close to the wind. There's a solitary voice at the moment in terms of whistleblowing.

**Dr Kishan Rees** (from the recording, 4:45)

> If you look at a headline figure like 500 million, yes, it's a drop in the ocean, and we've got to look at the more fundamental issues.

**Dr Kishan Rees** (from the recording, 5:40)

> At the moment it's quite hard-line, it's about winning the argument, which comes down to political ideology. Which I don't mean to be, I'm not, I mean, I'm all for having the conversation honestly.

**Dr Kishan Rees** (from the recording, 6:15)

> There's little things, in terms of, don't abuse it. People turn up because they have nowhere else to turn.

**Phil Hammond** (paraphrased, from 7:56)

He thanked me, and said it had been a pleasure talking.

Broadcast by BBC Radio Bristol, 29 December 2016; clip from the WatMed Media archive, my own upload. The BBC retains the rights in the broadcast. This page carries my own contributions with the presenter's questions paraphrased, credits the programme, and I will amend or remove on request.