This is Going to Hurt:

Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

 

I knew I would like this book, I heard about it from many people and being an NHS worker, I easily relate to any book or TV programme about life in the NHS. I also listened to various podcasts with Adam Kay being the guest, he is funny, likable, and a very genuine guy who has a real passion about healthcare and the NHS.

In my first job interview as a nurse I was asked what is the thing I most like about nursing? I said: dealing with people, we interact with people, touch their lives when they are most vulnerable, most weak, and most in need, this is very rewarding. Then I was asked what is the thing I most dislike? I said: dealing with people, for the same reasons I listed before. (I did not get that job). This is what it's like to be a healthcare worker: you accumulate stories about people, and this book lists these stories in an intelligent way. 

It is a very funny book, full of hilarious stories that Adam Kay encountered during his time in the NHS. For people working in healthcare these stories, as weird and wonderful as they are, are not unique or strange, we have a tendency to try and top each other’s bizarre story with one we experienced. However, it is very entertaining to read Adam’s stories, he is a very good storyteller and he makes a funny story even funnier.

Of course you can judge a book by its title, and this book is no exception, it is going to hurt. The NHS deals everyday with life and death situations, and every situation despite the similarities is unique, for us and the patients. We tend to walk through these situations thinking it is “just part of the job”, not paying too much attention to how it is affecting us, how it is impacting our daily lives, as humans not just as healthcare workers.

Few months ago, I got home after an unbelievably busy night with the hospital brought to its knees because of COVID. I got home, dressed and went for a walk. I wanted to cry, to shout, but instead I walked till I was exhausted, went back home, few hours of sleep, and back to the battlefield to face it all again, and again, and again. This book did not leave this side out, the dark side of working in hospitals, and be prepared to cry, a lot.

 

We work with people, this is the best thing about our jobs, and the worst; Working with people takes a toll on your life, rewarding as it is, it leaves marks on you and we are not good at dealing with it, but we are very good at suppressing it, hiding it, but never in acknowledging it.  

Adam Kay talks about that, the funny side, the sad side, which all makes the real side of being a doctor, a nurse, or any other healthcare worker in the NHS. I cannot recommend this book enough, as a matter of fact I have not stopped talking about it to my colleagues over the past few weeks.

Ahmad Baker

PS: get the audiobook..