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niinjah's review against another edition
3.0
There is no question the NHS are doing a formidable job despite how underfunded they are. It was interesting to read how the government hides or try to ignore how dire the situation is, and I learnt a lot. But I found the focus on this a bit too repetitive. What I liked the most were the stories about patients, it really made me feel good.
mrs_char_baker's review against another edition
2.0
If you are into politics, Question Time and Parliamentary debates, this book is for you! If you are looking to read a book about the work a Doctor does in the NHS, this isn't the right book.
I was really looking forward to reading this book, but the title is misleading. It is not really about the patients (though there a few brief stories) it is very political and I was really not expecting that.
The book is full of negativity and is the author's way of rambling on about working conditions in the NHS - bed crisis, staffing shortages and I quickly got fed up of Jeremy Hunt this, Jeremy Hunt that.
As a former Student Nurse, I have seen the issues first hand and I understand what the author is saying, but we have heard it all before in the news over the years. We don't need to read it.
The highlight of the book and what really summed it up for me was when the author asks her daughter if she would like to stay up to watch Mummy on the news. The daughters response is "No, Mummy is boring" This made me laugh out loud and totally summed the book up for me!
I was really looking forward to reading this book, but the title is misleading. It is not really about the patients (though there a few brief stories) it is very political and I was really not expecting that.
The book is full of negativity and is the author's way of rambling on about working conditions in the NHS - bed crisis, staffing shortages and I quickly got fed up of Jeremy Hunt this, Jeremy Hunt that.
As a former Student Nurse, I have seen the issues first hand and I understand what the author is saying, but we have heard it all before in the news over the years. We don't need to read it.
The highlight of the book and what really summed it up for me was when the author asks her daughter if she would like to stay up to watch Mummy on the news. The daughters response is "No, Mummy is boring" This made me laugh out loud and totally summed the book up for me!
miabellalibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
ruth_power's review against another edition
5.0
Very gripping and incredibly moving! An honest and powerful account of life on the NHS frontline.
emily_p1's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Child death, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Drug use and Drug abuse
joemkl's review
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
"‘What the hell is going on with our patients?’ asked Sally, my fellow junior doctor, as we worked our way through a bottle of wine. ‘You do realise more of them have died this month than lived?’"
I've read a lot of medical memoirs and this is the best of the lot. Clarke frames everything intelligently and coherently, but doesn't lose the sense of humanity that you expect from both this style of book and from doctors as a profession.
This book has made me smile, made me cry, and most of all, filled me with rage. The NHS is a wonderful thing, and after reading this, I'm going to fight a little harder for it when I can.
I've read a lot of medical memoirs and this is the best of the lot. Clarke frames everything intelligently and coherently, but doesn't lose the sense of humanity that you expect from both this style of book and from doctors as a profession.
This book has made me smile, made me cry, and most of all, filled me with rage. The NHS is a wonderful thing, and after reading this, I'm going to fight a little harder for it when I can.
hopeadinfinitum's review against another edition
5.0
Thought provoking, heartbreaking and real. And really interesting to look back on a time I lived through before I got into medicine from a medics perspective and to reflect on whether things have changed in the last four years.
Of course, things have changed, and it was interesting to contrast the rhetoric of 2016 with that of 2020 - a time when every nhs worker is called ‘essential’ and a ‘hero’ despite ongoing staffing and funding issues.
Of course, things have changed, and it was interesting to contrast the rhetoric of 2016 with that of 2020 - a time when every nhs worker is called ‘essential’ and a ‘hero’ despite ongoing staffing and funding issues.
lewis_fishman's review against another edition
5.0
In the words of Stormzy, "Fuck the government, and Fuck Boris!" The NHS, although not ever in use to me, is of utmost importance to the people of the UK, and the current and ongoing campaign by Tory governments to destroy it needs to be stopped.