Product Description

Despite the headlines, actually the NHS has just had its best year ever.
Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health, eulogising to the BBC, 22nd April 2006
Despite what the politicians say, things have gone a bit tits up recently.
Dr Nick Edwards, A&E Doctor, ranting to his mates down the pub, 22nd April 2006
Dr Nick Edwards is an Accident and Emergency (A&E) Doctor working in the UK and a passionate believer in the NHS. However the reforms, political correctness and the Anglo-Saxon culture of binge drinking and fighting and the resulting A&E visits are a strain on his sanity. So, to keep up his morale, he began writing down his feelings a form of literary cathartic therapy the results of which make up this book.
From dealing with cardiac arrests and car accidents, to people with Arrest Avoidance Syndrome and others who haven t quite read the big red sign above their heads as they walk into A&E, In Stitches paints a vivid picture of what it s really like working at the sharp end of the NHS today. It s funny, it s heartbreaking and it s infuriating. It s also more informative than any government press release.
So join Dr Nick Edwards as he describes the frustrations and joys of working in the NHS. The traumas and tragedies, the patients and colleagues and most of all the successes and humour that make up life at the frontline of medical care: Accident and Emergency.
Note to reader: ever conscious of meaningless targets, the author would like it to be known that 98% of the stories contained within this book were written in under 4 hours.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1442 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Every politician should have to read this book
This is such an important book, despite its light-hearted and readable tone. It made me laugh, it made me cry. It was real and it was worrying. It set out clearly what it's like working in today's NHS. It outlined the problems, it outlined sensible solutions and it highlighted the madness of the current government's schemes. which should make us all fear for our future health provision. And it also told us about comedy items stuck up patients' bottoms. What more could you ask for in a book about A&E?
Seriously though, this book should be required reading for all politicians and it should have been reviewed and discussed by the broadsheet newspapers.

Hilariously frank
I have just read this book in 3 days - mostly on trains and buses - and had to try very hard not to make a spectacle of myself by laughing too much. Dr Nick paints a heart-warmingly honest portrait of life as an A and E doctor, its ups and downs, celebrations and frustrations, but best of all are the quirky characters he meets. His accounts are hilariously frank whilst still insightful, and compell the reader to a greater understanding of how hospitals work. A brilliant book.

V realistic view on today's NHS
I loved this book. It was the sort of book that is so accurate it is scary. I am not a doctor, but it reminded me of working in A+E as a radiographer many moons ago. I have never nodded in agreement and exclaimed "yes! that is really how it is!!" aloud when reading a book on the bus. I agree with the ideas that stem from the book such as the NHS being placed into the hands of the professionals and the patients that use it, and reducing the amount of Governmental control.
To those saying that the book is too political, well that is what it is like in today's NHS, too many targets, poor workforce planning etc is something that health professionals have to deal with on an everyday basis. Dr Edwards clearly loves the NHS for what it stands for, but his frustration with how it is managed is justified.