The Doctor Will See You Now: The Junior Doctor's Back in Hospital

Really good read, couldn't put the book down. It was shocking the responsibility that junior doctors have at the beginning of their first day/week/year and just thrown in at the deep end. Must read Max's other 2 books, what an eye opener

If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you'll already know that I start each of them in the same way: every book starts off with the full surgery-load of 5 stars and I'm always hopeful that they will all still be firmly stuck in place by the time I close the back cover. You'll also know that I'm not shy about removing stars but I always give my reasons for each removal - they don't just vanish into thin air. In a single book I've replaced a star thanks to a magic little sentence at the back of the book and I'm more than willing to do it again as long as that sentence is there. Let's get cracking with the reading and reviewing shall we? Oh dear, a popular breakfast cereal is named on the second page so the star is already wobbly and I've only just started the first chapter! The first chapter was good - threw me right into the thick of things. I hope this book has self-contained chapters so that I don't have to re-read the previous chapter after meals or overnight! Oh dear, another trademarked product mentioned in the second chapter so the first star is coming off already, unfortunately. The second chapter was pretty much self-contained so I hope all of them are like that. I've just read page 78 (the last page of chapter 4) and based purely on what it said earlier on in the book, my jaw has just hit the floor! Well that was a erm... different chapter to read lol I'm up to page 99 and the corners of my mouth are starting to move upwards ever so slightly... a must read - just be careful of some chapters around the time you eat lol Ooh! The end of chapter 7 came out of nowhere! I'm about half way through the book now and the last chapter was a bit of a rollercoaster but the author handled it really well! Up to page 175 and I'm gonna stop reading for the day now... I'm loving it so far though and nothing too gory (yet!) either, which is a relief. Oooh! That chapter has made me think that maybe something not very nice is about to hit the fan! It's amazing what good doctors do for the patients when they've officially stopped working and especially when it's so simple and the patient is waiting to die anyway... That chapter had me feeling a whole load of different things very quickly and in only a single chapter... the author has definitely got talent! I've got exactly 100 pages left to read... will I be sobbing my heart out or grinning wildly by the time I close the back cover? My heart broke for that poor patient as I was treated the same by my previous GP for something else and as soon as he saw the mental illness diagnosis, suddenly everything was psychosomatic. There are only 70 pages left to read after I've had my lunch and I can't wait to escape for the rest of today back into this amazing book. *That's* one of the reasons I could never be a medical bod and one of the reasons I've never left the UK lol What a way to finish the book! The magic sentence wasn't there so it's a 4 star book that so easily could and should have been 5 stars, but if you're a nosey-parker like me, get this book bought and read!

Love Max Pemberton books. So interesting while being so entertaining and funny. This time Max is no longer a junior doctor and is working with elderly and dementia patients. A great insight into working in the NHS. Hope Max continues to write more books.

This book sees the author back in a hospital job, covering A&E and working in geriatrics and psychiatry. Geriatrics is something of a Cinderella speciality and dealing with geriatric patients with psychiatric problems is even less popular. There are some heart rending stories and some which remind the reader that there is still good in human nature. The author's flat mates feature largely in this book - Flora, Ruby and a new inmate - Terry - who for a change is not a doctor. Lewis is battling with the problem of telling his family about his life style. Patients come and go and some will stick in your mind long after you finish reading the book. The elderly man who had broken his shoulder and who no one would treat because he also had schizophrenia; the man who couldn't understand that his life savings were now in a bank and went round accusing everyone of stealing them; the man in his 50s with CJD who kept piling furniture up in corners because he had been a removal man before the disease struck him. What I found particularly touching was the innovative ways nurses found to deal with these patients. The former removal man just needed telling, for example, that it was tea break time and he would sit down and stop rearranging the furniture. This simple solution meant his wife could look after him at home for much longer. The care demonstrated by some of the nurses was absolutely marvellous. One of them could interpret the smallest change in facial expression of one of his patients and knew exactly what he needed and what was wrong with him even though the doctor didn't. I found the ways the hospital spheres of influence worked interesting and parallels can probably be found in any large organisation. People in unlikely jobs often have much more power than could normally be expected from their job title alone; the secretary - Trudy - the provider of cake to celebrate and commiserate who always knew everything that was going on. The typing pool where there was a temporary typist who could listen to his iPod and his dictation tapes at the same time and who wanted to be a doctor showed the author that you should never judge by appearances. Some marvellous characters and some thought provoking situations show that as a society we are seriously neglecting out old people - especially those with mental illnesses. If you are approaching an age when this sort of thing is likely to affect you personally then this book may keep you awake at night wondering whether you could end up sedated in a nursing home because no one has the time to treat you properly as a human being. Staff such as the author himself, Marsha and Dr Webber will give the reader hope that things can change for the better. There are people who care and who want to make a difference.

While the author has a very readable style, I didn’t like this as much as his first book. It comes across more as a tale about him and his flat mates, than hospital life. I’d definitely recommend his first book to people - not so sure I would do the same with this one

This is the third book in the series (following 'Trust Me, I'm a Junior Doctor' and 'Where Does It Hurt?') and it certainly lives up to their standard. It has the same tone we have come to expect from Max Pemberton, interspersing laugh out loud comedy with more sombre insights. In contrast to the last book, this one is mostly set back in an NHS hospital rather than the community, making it feel more like the first book. Initially I read the series as an aspiring medical student, and now I have re-read them as I am going into my final year. I am happy to say they have lost none of their charm and are equally relatable from both sides of the hospital bed! I have read each one in a single sitting and cannot recommend these highly enough!

It took time to get into but after that I enjoyed , serious moments and some joyous laughable ones all done still showing Doctor to patient dignity.

Written by a doctor who fully understands the problem of the NHS and the fact that nursing homes are operated as a business.

I like Pemberton's books because he highlights social problems without sounding preachy. In this book he is back at the hospital working in the A&E and with elderly mental health patients. As always, he recounts both funny and sad anecdotes. I hope he writes another book soon.

同じ著者の3冊目の本。どういうわけだかもうとっくに忘れてしまったけれども、Max Pambertonの語り口が好きで、新しいのが出るのを待っては読んでいる。NHS(イギリス国立医療センター）のフルタイムのドクターで、デイリーテレグラムのコラムニストだそうです。インターン時代を書いた1冊目、2年目のアウトリーチ活動を描いた2冊目、そして、本書は、もう一度病院勤務に戻って、専門分野である老人学というと堅苦しいが、所謂ものわすれ外来と病棟の現在のイギリスでの有り様と、それから彼という3年目のレジデントをとりまく生活を綴った一冊。 不況で日本が医療や年金制度の改革を迫られどうするか方向性を決めきれずにいて、アメリカではオバマ政権が比較的「大きな」政府を打ち出したとき、イギリスはがっつりと消費税を上げ、公共福祉を切り詰めるという「小さな」政府になる決意をしたのは、少し前。それで、病院の医療制度の老人医療がどう変わらざるをえなかったか？例えば、ひとり暮らしで誰も差し入れをしてくれるような身内のない入院患者が夜中にお腹が空いたとナースセンターに言ってきても、バナナ1つ、ビスケット一枚、置いてないんだそうです。それが予算削減の結果だそうです。また、職員が減らされてゆく中で、どうしても「手のかかる」入居者への対応はどうしても安定剤で1日の大半を眠らせ続けるという手段に訴えざるを得なくなっていっている状況、でもそれですら、最低の対応ではないのだと有り体に書かれ、内容だけここに書けば暗い内容なのだけれども、それが、著者の怒りや葛藤とユーモアを織り交ぜて生き生きと描写されているところが、やっぱ、ええな、と思います。ある日とうとう顧問医（つまりえらい先生）が怒り出して、ポケットマネーで入院患者用のおやつの果物を買ってきたなどのエピソードを読むと、現場で働いている人は頑張っているんだと考えさせられます。。。

Loved this

I enjoyed this book. Especially the comedy inserted in serious areas of medicine. It does seem to jump around a bit. Also keeping all the flat mates organized in my head was tricky. Great read though.