Adam Kay was a new, junior doctor who specialised in gynaecology and from 2004 to 2010 he kept a diary. This is Going to Hurt was written from his memories and those notes and depicts what life is really like for what we refer to as a “junior” doctor and what made him quit.
The book is filled with little stories and examples of the cases he dealt with and the problems he found with the system and the way that the NHS works in the UK. Sometimes the book is funny and occasionally it is sad but underlying everything that is written here is the author’s anger about the way that the system is failing its patients. The author writes in an amusing, light-hearted but sarcastic manner which may not be to everyone’s taste but the book is easy to read.
The book tells us about how tired so many doctors are and how easy it is to make mistakes. We also learn how the system hides incompetence and failure. Anyone who has used the NHS services knows that it is at, if not past, breaking point and this book shows that it has been that way for quite some time. Anyone who has used the NHS services also knows that most of those who work there are kind and caring people who do their best and achieve great things and the author acknowledges that here as well. Eventually he reaches his breaking point and he is clear about why that is and how sad he feels about it.
This is not a happy book filled with heart-warming anecdotes about people and their ailments. This is an angry book about a system that the author loves that is failing its patients and the people who work within it. It’s a book that we should read and a message with which we should engage.
Anne Is Reading 