Karl Mercer
Political reporter, BBC London

The pandemic has caused a huge a huge backlog of operations, while the NHS is also facing staff shortages with the service currently having some 10,000 job vacancies.

NHS London's regional director Caroline Clarke describes the current situation as "hugely frustrating" , but says hospitals, GPs and pharmacies are "working as quickly as possible together so making sure that we can clear those waiting lists as quickly as possible".

She says schemes like the creation of new diagnostics centres around the capital, such as one newly opened in a north London shopping centre, will mean "we can provide more diagnostics as quickly as possible".

"I think probably in the next 12 to 18 months we will start to see those [waiting list] numbers coming back to a level that will feel a bit more manageable," she adds.

Yasmin Rufo
BBC London

Our first conversation is with married couple Carlos and Jolita Moonsam, and Dr Thomas Booth.

Carlos is a security officer at King's and a year ago Dr Booth helped give him life-saving treatment after he had a stroke while on duty.

Carlos' wife Jolita, who also works at the hospital, tells us: "I will remember Dr Booth for the rest of my life.

"I am so grateful he saved my husband."

It's a wonderful moment to see all three of these people reunited a year on from the event.

It's now time for Carlos to go home and have a rest having just finished a night shift.

First up, let's hear from Pat Farrant who is a paediatric liver sonographer at King's College Hospital. Like the NHS she turns 75 this year.

She first joined the service at the age of 18 in 1966 and was at the forefront of the development of ultrasound, becoming one of the first sonographers working in the NHS.

She is retiring tomorrow and a room in the hospital’s new ultrasound unit has been named after her.

Image source, King's College Hospital

King’s College Hospital started in 1840 and is based in Denmark Hill.

It is a major teaching hospital as well a leading trauma centre, with a helipad on its roof which is used by London’s Air Ambulance.

It primarily serves the boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth and Bromley, but also specialises in the treatment of diabetes, liver disease, sickle cell and blood cancers.

Some 50,000 staff work at the hospital which serves about 1 million people.

Yasmin Rufo
BBC London

Eddie Nestor's show has just begun.

It's a pretty quiet morning here at the hospital so far, but doctors and nurses tell me it's about to get a lot busier.

We'll be bringing you a glimpse of life on the front line of an NHS hospital until 2pm.

Stay tuned for interviews and conversations with a range of staff and patients.

BBC London's Yasmin Rufo is at King's where she will be speaking to people there, while other reporters are dropping in on other London hospitals and surgeries.

Eddie Nestor’s Radio London programme is also coming from the hospital and you can listen to it here on BBC Sounds.

The BBC London team have also gone behind the scenes and spent a day on the wards. Watch what happened at 6.30pm this evening on BBC One, or alternatively catch up afterwards on the iPlayer.

Thank you for joining us as we visit King’s College Hospital in south London as the NHS marks 75 years since it began.

Over the next few hours we’ll be hearing from the staff who work at one of the UK’s busiest trusts, as well as the patients who they treat.

We'll be also speaking to staff from other parts of the NHS across the capital.