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In October 2000, Dr John Ryan, an Accident & Emergency consultant at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton criticised the number of patients visiting the department for minor ailments without first contacting their GP.

Ryan attributed this phenomenon to patients viewing Holby City and American medical drama ER, and falsely perceiving hospitals as glamorous.

A three year Belgian research project, presented at a British Psychological Society meeting in September 2008, claimed that watching Holby City and similar medical dramas such as Casualty and ER had a subliminal influence on fear of illness.

1, 300 teenagers were questioned on their viewing habits, and those who watched more medical dramas were found to be up to 10 % more fearful about their health, with females more affected than males.

Dr Jan Van Mierlo of Hasselt University stated that further research was needed into the long-term impact of television.