Holby City (series 1) "Holby City" was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin–off from the long–running BBC medical drama "Casualty". 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 is limited to "accident of the week" storylines about patients entering hospital, "Holby City" allowed the possibility of storylines about long–term care, rather than immediate life and death decisions. Although both shows are set in the same hospital, the "Casualty" set in Bristol was not large enough to encompass the surgical ward and operating theatre required
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.