This is Going to Hurt is a book that should be on everyone’s reading list. A book written in secret by Adam Kay, a junior Doctor, in the spare moments he had in his average 97 hour week.
Since leaving the NHS after 6 years, Adam is now a comedian and writer for TV and film. He has pulled together his written memories of this time and opened the lid on the box of horrors and joys that was his working life and, in rare moments, his private life.
It is, without a doubt, a laugh out loud book in places. However, it also does a great job of highlighting the realities of the NHS. The relentlessness of the hours, the constancy of the pressure, the ‘per hour salary’ which, with unpaid overtime equated to ‘less than the parking meter outside the hospital’. Within that work load, the inclusion of unnecessary procedures (removal of strange objects from ‘remote places’), the characters that come and go and of course Adam’s experience with the hierarchy within the system.
Written in little diary chunks it is the perfect pick up, read and put down book. Alarming and amusing in equal measures.
The paperback is now available from Hungerford Bookshop for £8.99
Hilary Stockwell
Book reviewer and bookworm
