Holby City a minimum 50 episodes per series, delivered from December 2017 with no break in transmission and produced from the existing production base at BBC Elstree Centre. BBC Studios was announced as the winning bidder and will continue to produce the show through to 2020. "Holby City" was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the BBC medical drama "Casualty", which is set in the emergency department of the fictional Holby City Hospital. Young wanted to explore what happened to patients treated in "Casualty" once they were taken away to the hospital's surgical wards. While "Casualty" scope
William Harvey Hospital Ashford, criticised proposals that some services would require patients to be bussed back to the old hospital when William Harvey Hospital opened. In 2000, the press reported that staff shortages at the hospital were putting patient's lives at risk, which drew local MP Damian Green to criticise the management of the NHS in parliament. Green continued to complain about the state of the hospital, noting in 2001 that patients had been waiting in the accident and emergency department for 24 hours. In 2013, hospital staff members threatened to quit due to proposed increases in parking permit charges from March 2014.