The Doctor Will See You Now: The Junior Doctor's Back in Hospital Paperback – 2 Feb. 2012

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.

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 lolOoh! 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 lolWhat 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!

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

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

Oh my life-watching Max Pemberton grow up as a writer has been amazing. This book is deftly written, utterly enthralling, and paints a gorgeous picture of hard-working and terrified professionals doing their best as the system disintegrates around them! Max describes a world I'd never imagined, complete with the mood whiplash of dealing with everything that people can fling at him and his colleagues. There are moments of heartbreak, moments of joy, and moments you can't even classify. Stick your face in this, you won't regret it!

Informative and well written