Your Life In My Hands: A Junior Doctor's Story Hardcover – October 1, 2017

This book was terrible. I expected the author to write about encounters with patients and how she handled various medical cases. Instead, she went on and on about the government, the NHS system and basically just bitching about how the system is taking a toll on the doctors and they're running on compassion but exhausted yada yada. You could talk about that, but not pages AND PAGES AND PAGES. This book is just about her repetitively complaining about the government and saying how exhausted the doctors are. Period. Waste of money.

Heartwarming and shocking in equal measure, this astonishing book took me closer than any TV documentary to the relentless demands of critical illness in humankind; it permitted me access to the innermost and at times agonised thoughts of a doctor confronted by those breathtaking demands. It could usefully be read by any politician and the legions of NHS managers charged with overseeing the delivery of a nation's healthcare in the absence of any clinical experience of their own. A wonderful and unforgettable piece of writing.

Clearly written by someone who is passionate about providing outstanding health care, and despite the important political messages that run throughout, the author manages to make this an unputdownable, front line, account and is a fascinating read. Having finished it within hours of getting hold of a copy, I now feel like joining Junior Doctors in their fight to save our NHS.

The NHS is 70 and not in good health. Demand is rising much faster than funding, staff morale and pay have been eroded and until last week we had one of the most head-in-the-sand Health Secretaries who has managed to miss every target, alienate every staff group and refuse any political responsibility for it. This has incensed many including Rachel Clarke, a journalist who retrained as a doctor and became a vocal campaigner for Junior Doctor rights, for patient safety and against chronic NSH underfunding. All this is described in this book in a way that is engaging, easy to ready and the descriptions of life at the coalface of a busy A&E or admissions unit are particularly powerful. However, the narrative ultimately has to fit the campaign agenda and some of it is not really representative of the NHS as whole. I have been a Paediatrician in the NHS for over 20 years and we are shortage specialty so well aware of the challenges faced by Junior Doctors. However, we don't have trainees "staying regularly for hours beyond their finishing time", in fact this is actively discouraged. Teaching is scheduled and regular rather than ad hoc and Consultants are now present on site at least 12h a day, 7 days a week. The main challenges for Juniors are the high proportion of antisocial hours rather than excessively long hours, the soul-destroying short-term changes to shifts caused by rota gaps and the lack of continuity due to erratic shift patterns. What is described are poor relationships between managers and clinicians but it doesn’t have to be that way. There is also much in emergency care that works really well and better than it had in the past. Yet those improvements are not visible in this book which ultimately looks like the story of an industrial dispute from the perspective of Junior Doctors who fought bravely but ultimately in vain and to me the callousness of imposing a new contract instead of negotiating it is the biggest stain on the record of Jeremy Hunt as Health Secretary.

When I came on site to write this review I noted there were quite a few 1 star reviews. I was surprised to say the least considering its content. When you read through them many are complaining that it was a political rant, that they wanted more stories about patients and life on the wards. It seems so unfair to me, to give a book a 1 star rating when you openly admit to not having read it properly, to skipping chapters, skim reading or not even getting past the first chapter. If it wasn't what you expected then all I can say is you didn't read the 'blurb' before buying because its there in black and white for all to see. Maybe you ought to quit skim reading things even before you buy! I always say words are written to be read, if you don't read all the words, you won't get the full story, a bit like eavedropping.So anyway, rant, diatribe over. This is what I thought.I enjoyed every aspect of this book. I thought it was intelligently told, but with so much warmth and compassion for those patients whose stories were covered. I never realised how many ways there were to die, and that some of those deaths have the potential to cause great suffering in a persons last hours. Good that we still have Doctors who can try to do their very best to ensure the suffering is limited and that a person can die with dignity, surrounded by those who love them.It is quite frightening to think that in a not so distant future, if certain members of our ruling classes had their way, we would end up more concerned with whether we could afford the treatment and whether our insurance would be willing to cover it than ensuring our loved ones received the best care. Is that really what people want?So no, the book isn't funny, it doesn't have witty little passages, it doesnt really contain many anecdotal stories but what it does do is tell it like it is - with passion!

Unfortunately this book had far too many political whinges in it (justified though they were) to keep my attention throughout and I skipped many many pages of ranting and complaining about Jeremy Hunt etc (justified though I've no doubt it was) until I came to a paragraph where I saw the subject changed to a medical one and held my attention.The book is very well written (the author having a journalistic background) but I just wasn't interested in the politics. However I could understand how the book was a good outlet for the author to vent her anger, and to expose the dreadful and very shabby way health professionals are treated by the government.This is just one of several book written recently by Doctors exposing the awful treatment they get from policitians. It was written pre-COVID, so I wonder if the pandemic might change things? I do hope so.I admired the author's resilience and tenacity, her story of nearly giving up is becoming a familiar one as I work my way through these book written by various Doctors and Nurses.The bits I enjoyed the most were the personal stories of various patients the author helped, and learning about some truly incredible medical conditions (I didn't know it was possible for some people to have all their internal organs on the opposite side of their body for instance!). These stories were well written and with compassion.

I bought he book to read the road becoming a junior doctor but I was very disappointed as it was mainly a political manifesto on the NHS. If you want to know how the NHS treats doctors then read it but if you want to know how doctors perform then find another book. A good read is Direct Red, A surgeon's story by Gabriel Weston, Gabriel is on TV with other doctors giving advice.

Reasonable book but she spends a lot of time commenting on Jeremy Hunt and the doctors pay deal - was rather dull. I read to end only because I wanted to hear all the anecdotes. Extracts from Mid Staffs report, however, were enlightening and marked important parts of her career.I subsequently read the report and can see it happening very easily again.