Holby City isn’t just facing trauma cases and collapsing patients this week — Faith Cadogan is dealing with a far more personal crisis that hits closer to home than any ED emergency ever could.

After quietly confessing to colleague Siobhain McKenzie that Iain Dean has officially moved out, Faith is visibly struggling to keep her emotions in check. The usually composed nurse looks shaken, tired and — for once — unsure of her own future.

Siobhain, always blunt and practical, suggests something Faith isn’t prepared to hear:
“What if you’re perimenopausal?”

It’s a comment that leaves Faith stunned and with far too much to think about.

A shift that goes from bad to humiliating

Faith tries to brush off the idea — after all, she’s a clinician, not a patient. She knows how to diagnose and manage other people’s crises, not her own. But as the shift continues, subtle symptoms begin to surface: emotional swings, flashes of irritability, and small lapses she can’t quite explain.

Then comes the moment that changes everything — an embarrassing incident with a patient that forces Faith to confront the possibility that something really is wrong. The look on her face says it all:
this isn’t stress, and it isn’t grief. It’s something physiological.

Faith finally agrees to let Siobhain run tests, though she’s mortified and deeply reluctant. For someone who has always prided herself on control and competence, handing over the reins — even to a colleague — feels like defeat.

The results no one saw coming

Later, away from the chaos of the ED, Siobhain gets the laboratory printout. One glance is enough to wipe the confidence off her face. The results aren’t routine. They’re not ambiguous. They’re not what either of them expected.

When Faith walks in, Siobhain looks up — and the expression says everything before the words even land.
Whatever the diagnosis is, it isn’t perimenopause.
It’s something bigger, heavier and potentially life-changing.

Faith listens in shock, processing every word, every number, every implication. It’s a terrifying moment of vulnerability for a character whose identity has always been rooted in strength, composure and resilience.