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Alexis Taylor recommended Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness in Books (curated)

 
Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness
Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness
Ben Watt | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Like a lot of my most recent reads, I found a copy of this in my local Underground station book swap/donation area. It's a very moving and insightful, disturbing and sometimes humorous account of Ben coming to terms with a rare illness, a massive change to his life, and the seemingly unending search for clarity about his condition, and an improvement in his health. It is gripping from the first page, and barely touches on his music career, focusing much more on family and his experiences with the NHS. I’ve not read anything else quite like it."

Source
  
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Carrie487 (0 KP) rated This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor in Books

Sep 24, 2019  
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
Adam Kay | 2017 | Biography
10
9.0 (44 Ratings)
Book Rating
Had me laughing out loud (0 more)
Hilarious and heartbreaking
This book was a very easy read but carried a very serious and heavy message. As a new Mum, I don't manage to stay awake very long to read now so the short diary entries made this perfect for me.
It had me laugh out loud next to a partner who doesn't read at all and couldn't understand why I was laughing. By the end of the book, I did shed a tear.
This book carries a message that everyone in this country who accesses the NHS should read.
  
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Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor in Books

Mar 30, 2022  
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
Adam Kay | 2017 | Biography
10
9.0 (44 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have had this on my want to read list for a long time, but after watching the TV series (twice) it quickly moved up to my must read now list and it did not disappoint.
Written as different chapters in Adam Kay’s life, from newly qualifying to the incident that lead him to quit medicine, this book covered all aspects of life as a doctor. Each chapter starts with an explanation about the post he is in and a few anecdotes from his life. It then moves onto diary entries from the time in each post.
The book had me laughing at the ridiculousness of some situations, cringing at others and tearing up at a few too. It opens your eyes to the dire state of the NHS and how doctors are always viewed as well paid for short hours when that’s really not true. They are underpaid, under appreciated and overworked in a system that is failing them. We are lucky to have our NHS in this country and we should appreciate it much more than we do sometimes.
Adam’s writing is both informative and witty and it was a pleasure to read and was one that I flew through as it was so easy to read that I didn’t want to put it down at all.
The main takeaway that I have from this book is how much the system needs to change for those working for the NHS but in order for that to happen, governments need to stop trying to privatise parts of it and set unobtainable targets all while the expecting those that work there to spend the majority of their life at work and only getting paid for some of it. All of the staff are under tremendous pressure and they need their loved ones support before we lose all of them to easier and better paying jobs.
  
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ClareR (5726 KP) rated Antiemetic for Homesickness in Books

Nov 28, 2020  
Antiemetic for Homesickness
Antiemetic for Homesickness
Romalyn Ante | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I don’t often review poetry, because I just don’t have the experience to do so effectively, I think. But I do like to read poetry, and listen to it being read. This book of poems centres around the poets lived experience - leaving the Philippines as an older teenager and coming to live in the UK with her mother, a nurse in the NHS, and the rest of her family. As it says in the title of the book, there is a real feeling of homesickness and guilt of having left family behind. The wish to hold on to her heritage comes across strongly as well. At the same time, Ante’s life and work as a nurse in the NHS is in many of these poems - the hard work, the racism she encounters and the care she takes of her patients.

I really enjoyed the glimpses into life in the Philippines, and I made good use of the ‘Boodle Fight of Words and Terminologies’, the notes and Google translate (it’s the linguist in me 🤷🏼‍♀️) It sounds like hard work, doesn’t it - but it wasn’t. This will be a book that goes on my poetry shelf (yes, I have one!) that I will revisit often, I think.

Thank you to Vintage Books for sending me this book - it’s always worth entering the competition because sometimes I do win!!
  
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ClareR (5726 KP) rated This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor in Books

Apr 29, 2019  
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
Adam Kay | 2017 | Biography
10
9.0 (44 Ratings)
Book Rating
Finding humour in difficult times
This is a book that tells it like it is: the long hours, no sleep, the volume of work, the responsibility, the gory, gruesome bits, the humour, the sadness and the stress. We take for granted that the NHS and our doctors will always be there, but after reading this book, I find myself with even more respect for the doctors and nurses in our hospitals, and the care they give us even when they’re tired and stressed.
This is very funny though, and I think a lot of humour is probably used by doctors - whatever gets them through their long shifts!