This is Going to Hurt: The bestselling secret diaries of a junior doctor, now a major BBC comedy-drama

One of the best I’ve read in a long while . Uplifting , gallows humour amidst the trauma of working in the NHS …. If you think you’ve had a bad day , some of these tales will make your head explode !A must read .

“Welcome to the life of a junior doctor: 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids and the hospital parking meter earns more than you.”Written in short diary excerpts, this laugh-out-loud collection follows Adam Kay as he ascends through the ranks from junior doctor to consultant of gynaecology, which he so pleasantly refers to as “brats and twats”. This eye-opening read provides insight into what it is really like to work for the NHS – warts and all (literally).“I notice that every patient on the ward has a pulse of 60 recorded in their observation chart so I surreptitiously inspect the healthcare assistant’s measurement technique. He feels the patient’s pulse, looks at his watch and meticulously counts the number of seconds per minute.”Some of his diary entries are only a few sentences long whereas others are several pages, making this book an easy read in one-sitting or one to pick up and put down at leisure. Kay comments on the insufferably long days and the horrors of an understaffed rota with wit and humour, and discloses the everyday routines of those on the frontlines of our hospitals. He’s such a likeable narrator, and you love him, and our NHS, even more for sharing the highest highs and the lowest lows that come with the job. Miscarriages, family deaths and the all-too-vivid descriptions of intrusive surgeries litter these pages, all told through anecdotes of love, hope and downright stupidity. Join Kay on his first day in the wards, right through to his last.“I’m as big a fan of recycling as the next man, but if you turn a used condom inside out and put it back on for round two, it’s probably not going to be that effective.”Our NHS needs us now more than ever and if you are in any doubt of this claim, pick up this book. Laugh with him, cry with him and learn about what really goes on behind closed doors.Adam Kay has just published his second book, a Christmas sequel ‘Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas. This is another excellently executed and highly recommended read.

Anyone who uses the NHS marvels at the incredible work of the nurses and doctors who look after us, but what is it really like from the point of view of a junior doctor. Along comes Adam Kay with his laugh out loud This is Going to Hurt (Picador) that was released in early September. In recent weeks Adam has won the Books Are My Bag Non-Fiction Book of the Year, the Books Are My Bag Readers' Choice Award and also Winner of Blackwell's Debut Book of the Year. Not a bad return for a debut about a junior doctor. Actually it is just brilliant in every respect.There were times when I was reading this that I was laughing so much I had tears in my eyes not sure what my fellow passengers must have thought on my daily commute to and from work. But at the same time I had tears for very different reasons. Just the pure emotion and also heartbreaking. These are the diaries of Adam Kay when he was a junior doctor for six years.I said to one of my bookish friends on Twitter that I was going to send a copy to Jeremy Hunt (Health Secretary), well I can now reveal here that I actually did just that, whether the book actually reached him personally is another matter. But I carried out my threat as I believe he and other government ministers should read this outstanding and brilliant book.Here are his diary entries from 2004 to 2010 after which he gave up his job suddenly and very sadly. Now he writes and my goodness does he write. Though Kay is extremely funny in his writing there is a very serious side to this book and he uses it to send a message to those in power and how the NHS is on the verge of collapse despite those in government denying this for their own agenda.There is one part that has stayed with me and it is when Adam has just ended yet another very long shift on the wards and is so exhausted that he falls asleep in his car. He has not left the car park at the hospital. He is woken up by the registrar on Christmas Day asking why he is late for his next shift. Then he falls asleep at various points. If this does not get a message across as to just how hard these doctors and nurses are working and to the point of sheer mental and physical exhaustion, then nothing will. These dedicated people are not just human they are super human. They are there to put us back together when things go wrong for whatever reason.I am not one for watching these medical dramas on TV as I have seen them working at first hand on my over recent years and to me each and every one is a hero and should treated as such.If you read one book before the end of this year, please make it This is Going to Hurt I promise you will fall over laughing it will make you cry laughing and it will make you angry at the way the NHS is being managed. It is one of my 15 books of 2017. You will not be disappointed. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I enjoyed this book and thought it was important to write. I wish a little more time had been spent on expanding the entries, mainly because their brevity sometimes makes the author seem brash when I don't think it is the case.Despite this, the brevity does also help in conveying the rush and chaos of the job and how little time there really is to care, or show you care, as the next emergency beckons, tiredness overcomes you and numbs you. You don't have the luxury to let emotions get in the way as the next patient must have your full attention.Quite a few negative reviewers accuse him of poor crude language. I find this hilarious because it's well known that doctors are pretty crude when it comes to talk, & swear a fair bit. They're working in trench conditions where pressure both of time and tiredness and the fear of failure have a high cost and leads to a state of apparent desensitisation just to be able to cope. It certainly doesn't mean that's what they feel inside.Nor do I think it's misogynistic, just locker room talk which, if you sit primly outside as a third party you could get on a hi-horse and criticise; but in the heat of the day to day, is rather insignificant. The fact is he clearly is dedicated to doing the very best for every patient, tries to be everywhere at once and rightly gets incredibly frustrated with time wasters. Time and again we see him sacrifice himself, his relationship and his friends to give more in the most unreasonable circumstances.Why 4 stars? Because I do think it was rather too balanced towards the positive outcomes and funny episodes. There are but few tragic episodes. For me, the points he's trying to get across would have been more poignant if there had been a few more entries where the outcome didn't go right. Entries such as the one at the end which illustrated vividly, the roller coaster of emotions, the stress on the individuals not just of multitasking over long hours but also of dealing daily with some tragic moments. I think it would have made the points more strongly and had greater impact thus avoiding the accusations of being trite and superficial levelled by some.Of course, such episodes might have been deemed simply to tragic and personal to publish.I think it's well worth reading, it does repeat itself. it's important to look closely at what he actually does even when the temptation was huge to rush or not do his best.

A great read from a junior doctor who worked in the NHS.I can understand a lot of negative reviews towards the attitude of the author/ doctor who can come across as moaning about his life, but from my experience reading it he has every right to moan.The situation in the NHS when this book came out was no doubt bad but I can only imagine in 2025 it’s got a lot worse. Expecting doctors and nursing staff to work stupid hours and still be competent, yet they get criticised for mistakes they made which are quite clearly because of fatigue and working without any sleep rather than general errors is insanity.By the sounds of it he made the right choice to leave the NHS, I wouldn’t even know where to start with it, zero life balance, awful pay…it really does come across as hell for what seems to be very little benefit yet is a much needed service.I thought the book was hilarious, but at times equally harrowing with some stories of death which are to be expected. I have no links to the profession but know friends who work there , more specially in the obs & gynae department which is the authors main choice of work and the bulk of this book , it’s an eye opener to what they have to go through on a daily basis.

Fabulous book! Made me laugh and cry.

A fantastic read that should remind us all that our politians pay should be tied to NHS Junior Drs & Nurses so they cant get a payrise without increasing the NHS pay scales in line with there own!

Before I purchase a book I always read some of the reviews both good and bad. I'm always very sceptical of books and reviewers that claim a book is 'laugh out loud' funny and probably would have been more swayed by the negative reviews had I not decided to read the first few pages before buying. Im not sure what it was in those pages that attracted me to the book - perhaps the open, honest fast way he wrote? I can't not agree with some of the negative reviews that at times he does use inappropriate language which does at times shock but I would say he never appeared arrogant. I feel the book is written with wit and honesty. The fast pace pulls you through. The comic anecdotes keep you reading but all the while you understand that here is someone who loved his job but was pushed to the very limit and perhaps in those circumstances it is entirely naturally that the way to survive is inappropriate jokes and language. How else can one get through the difficult times.I am of an age where I have spent a good deal of time in various NHS hospitals with parents and in laws. I have seen how stretched the departments are and how the doctors and nurses have to keep pushing through. This book shows the cost to the doctors. As patients and relations of patients we see an efficient doctor looking and sounding efficient totally unaware of how many shifts he has done back to back or how many other patients he is struggling to treat, juggling what equipment, beds and procedures he has available. We all expect the most from our doctors without thinking about the toil on their personal life.I was once lucky (or unlucky enough) to be at a dinner party where I was sat next to the then Health minister and was astounded that he had absolutely no knowledge of medicine, health or any related topic. That before visiting a hospital he received a briefing which he was expected to read on the way there. He may have a team behind him giving him this information but still decisions are made about how best to spend money on the NHS and medical staff pay with little regard for what is happening on the front line.This book was a joy to read although had me in tears at the end and not from the wit. Some of the stories did have me laughing but the overall impression it leaves is a doctor working hard long hours a job he takes great pride in but in difficult conditions at the limits of his knowledge and strength. We should support these doctors more. There must be ways to help them which in the long run would only benefit everyone as more doctors would stay in their jobs.

Always love adam kay book

I haven't finished it yet, but I'm enjoying "This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor" so much that I feel duty bound to tell the world about how hilarious this book is so that more can share in the pleasure.I am 70% of the way through, and I only started it yesterday. I'm finding it difficult to put down despite having many other things that I really should be doing instead. I can see myself reading it again and dipping back into it whenever I need a good laugh.What's so funny? The endless stream of eye-opening and gob-smacking anecdotes from this expressive former doctor with the ability to appreciate , communicate and magnify the humour in the many crazy situations in which he, his colleagues and patients find themselves. However funny it is, it doesn't fail to convey a very real and sometimes heart-wrenching side to life as a junior doctor, as well as the flaws and wonders of the NHS in equal measure.The only downsides to this book for me are that sometimes it over-simplifies and pokes fun at some things that are close to my heart. I can excuse that because of how funny it is. The many long footnotes rather annoyed me when I first started reading because of how disjointed they made it, but I soon adjusted to that as I realised that some of the funniest and most interesting nuggets were contained in them. I can also excuse the annoying way it jumps around as a result of being a diary.Never have I laughed so hard. My eyes were so full of tears I could not read on at one point, and I was cackling and squealing so hysterically that my 8-year-old son came in to check I was OK. I don’t think you can really beat that!

Loved this book, it made me laugh, cry, worry and reflectores on human nature and how, unless you are willing to open your heart and mind, it is so easy to judge others without knowing what we are talking about. Inspiring, moving, candidly written. I was sick in bed and this book made my day.

I laughed out loud and snorted tea out my nose so be careful not to be drinking a hot beverage when you read this book. The author lays bare the absurdities of the hospital system in the UK (which still beats the heck out of private healthcare in the US). The dangerously over-worked junior doctors, the toll on young doctors’ family life and the caring and compassionate healthcare workers who do their best to keep patients safe. I couldn’t wait to get back to the book each day. One of the best books I’ve read.

The blurb and publicity praise the book as an adorably funny satire on the hospital business. Yes, it is funny, it is set in Great Britain, mainly in gynaecology and in the British NHS healthcare system, but it is not (actually) satire. It is an exact description of a doctor's work and, apart from a few deviations (our specialist training does not follow exactly the same pattern), it can be transferred exactly to Germany, to everything that goes wrong, to everything that is a daily burden for all employees in the healthcare system. Even many of the situations that seem very strange or even absurd to outsiders have probably been experienced in the same or a similar way by almost everyone who has worked in a hospital for a few years. I am sure that they happened in exactly the same way and were not invented by the author. In particular - and this is where the book ends - it is an indictment of the complete disregard shown by politicians for the people who work in hospitals or elsewhere on a daily basis. But in the end it doesn't matter. Even our current Minister of Health, Mr Lauterbach, would probably not change anything if he were to devote his precious time to this book at all, and would probably not even feel addressed. In this respect: absolutely worth reading, but also very depressing. Not funny.