This was the first book I finished in 2019, and 16 or so books later (I'm absolutely that behind on reviews), it's still the best book I've read this year. I saw so many people recommending it all over my twitter feed and Instagram, and now I'm one of the people that just will not shut up about it.
Adam Kay is an ex-junior doctor turned author. Seven years after he quit working for the NHS, he's published a collection of diary entries that he found from when he was working in the gynaecology department. These are elaborated on for the book and definitely don't fit the whole 'I got up and ate breakfast at 7am' style.
The book tracks a number of stories that really expose what it's like to be a junior doctor for the NHS. Kay writes about the pressures of the job, the long hours and the absolutely unimaginable strain it puts on you. He talks about how he's expected to perform surgery 10 hours into a shift, but gets pulled over by the police on his way home because he's so exhausted he's not really fit to drive.
There are some incredible funny anecdotes in the book too. The most memorable one for me is a story about him helping a woman to give birth. As the head comes out the father shouts 'oh my GOD OUR BABY HAS NO FACE'. The mother freaks out, the baby shoots out and she's torn in a whole manner of ways. Kay then lets the father know that most babies are born face down and he was only looking at the back of its head...
The book really exposes what a wonderful thing our NHS is, and why we should do everything we can to save it. I think we all should give this book a read because it personalises the statistics we see about our struggling health service, and really shows how important it is to keep.
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