Adam Kay

Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

This is Going to Hurt

The multi-million copy bestseller and Book of the Year at The National Book Awards. ‘Painfully funny. The pain and the funniness somehow add up to something entirely good, entirely noble and entirely loveable.' - Stephen Fry 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. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, this diary is everything you wanted to know – and more than a few things you didn't – about life on and off the hospital ward. Sunday Times Number One Bestseller for over eight months and winner of a record FOUR National Book Awards: Book of the Year, Non-Fiction Book of the Year, New Writer of the Year and Zoe Ball Book Club Book of the Year. This edition includes extra diary entries and an afterword by the author.

Rose Donovan

"It's the third time in a week my boxers have been soaked in someone else's blood and I've had no option but to chuck them away and continue the shift commando. At £15 a pop for CK's I think I'm running my job at a loss. This time it had soaked through further than usual and I found myself washing blood off my cock with the realisation I could have caught HIV."

"today is the first time I've actually believed the patient's story. It's credible and painful sounding incident with a sofa and a remote control, that at the very least had me furrowing my brow and thinking, 'Well, I suppose it could happen.' Upon removal of the control in theatre, however, we noticed it has a condom on it, so maybe it wasn't a complete accident."

Brooke Barnett

Between us in the last few weeks, we’ve seen patients with itchy teeth, sudden improvement in hearing, and arm pain during urination. Each one gets a polite ripple of laughter, like a local dignitary’s speech at a graduation ceremony. We go round the table sharing our version of campfire ghost stories until it’s Seamus’s turn. He tells us he saw someone in the ER this morning who thought he was sweating on only half his face.”

Victoria 

ening to go off with bad news any minute, I suspect he can get better help from someone who didn't have to panic-google What to say to someone who's suicidal?? But it seems I'm better than nothing - at the very least, he's still alive.

But you still check especially when it’s ‘almost always’ you check to make sure 

If you hear hooves clip-clopping outside your bed- window, it could be a zebra. But when you take a look, it will almost always turn out to be a horse. 

Hate it when people think woman over react to pain and if doctors don’t know someone’s pain threshold they should still make sure everything is ok and not ignore woman’s pain 

 She's having cramping pains. Scan before her MTOP showed an intrauterine pregnancy. Normal. Send her home. I try to justify my admission - surely this is way too much pain? She's on morphine! Only because you prescribed her morphine No one is in pain like this with an MTOP, though. "How do you know her pain threshold?' comes the no-nonsense reply. 'Maybe she's like this when she stubs her toe as well.

Words you never want to hear from anyone 

'Well, I suppose it could happen. Upon removal of the remote control in theatre, however, we notice it has a condom on it, so maybe it wasn't a complete accident. 

My first encounter was a handsome young Italian man who attended hospital with the majority of a toilet brush inside of him (bristles first), and went home with a colostomy bag. His big Italian mother was grateful in ways that Brits never are, lavishing thanks and praise on every member of staff she met for saving her son's lite. She put her arm round the equally handsome young man who attended hospital with her son. 'And thank god his friend Philp was staying in the spare room at the time 

Less than a year as a doctor and this is the fourth object I have removed from a rectum - professionally, at least.

sacha

Cassandra Tang

There’s something about Kay’s ability to take a seriously fucked up 16 year long experience and make it comically digestible that really just hits right. I’m not really sure if i’m happy I read this book to be honest. On one hand, it’s critical to understand for life in england. For those who haven’t read, basically Adam Kay self narrates his time and journey through the NHS as he worked to become a consultant (highest level) in the Labor Ward. 

The book is on the surface a comedy. But as you go on you realize how truly broken the system is, whilst seeing the true impact of budget cuts, blind bureaucracy, and a general lack of resource. It’s truly insane the way this man lived. It’s also nothing short of true superheroeism. 

I actually wish that someone with his commentary ability had worked during covid to outline the goings on during that period. I suspect it would have blow this book out of the water. Not to take anything from Adam, of course. 

When i said i wasn’t sure how i felt about reading this book, I will forever more (being a now lifetime patient of the NHS) be worried about the staff and doctors well being as they come to look after me, or god forbid operate. However, I’ll hide my skepticism and smile with a new found appreciation for the job that these people are doing. And that’s hopefully just the start of the Adam Kay Impact. 

connor arnette

There’s something about Kay’s ability to take a seriously fucked up 16 year long experience and make it comically digestible that really just hits right. I’m not really sure if i’m happy I read this book to be honest. On one hand, it’s critical to understand for life in england. For those who haven’t read, basically Adam Kay self narrates his time and journey through the NHS as he worked to become a consultant (highest level) in the Labor Ward. 

The book is on the surface a comedy. But as you go on you realize how truly broken the system is, whilst seeing the true impact of budget cuts, blind bureaucracy, and a general lack of resource. It’s truly insane the way this man lived. It’s also nothing short of true superheroeism. 

I actually wish that someone with his commentary ability had worked during covid to outline the goings on during that period. I suspect it would have blow this book out of the water. Not to take anything from Adam, of course. 

When i said i wasn’t sure how i felt about reading this book, I will forever more (being a now lifetime patient of the NHS) be worried about the staff and doctors well being as they come to look after me, or god forbid operate. However, I’ll hide my skepticism and smile with a new found appreciation for the job that these people are doing. And that’s hopefully just the start of the Adam Kay Impact. 

THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 'Painfully funny. The pain and the funniness somehow add up to something entirely good, entirely noble and entirely loveable.' - Stephen Fry 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. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, this diary is everything you wanted to know - and more than a few things you didn't - about life on and off the hospital ward. Sunday Times Number One Bestseller for over eight months and winner of a record FOUR National Book Awards: Book of the Year, Non-Fiction Book of the Year, New Writer of the Year and Zoe Ball Book Club Book of the Year. This edition includes extra diary entries and a new afterword by the author.

Elisavet Rozaki 

Read it in one day. Found myself laughing outloud, gasping (and occasionally being disgusted), but it was so so so good!

Wow... I really did not expect to develop strong feelings about this book but I love it. Funny, brave, heartbreaking point of view of someone doing the world's hardest job. 

Jovana Gjekanovikj 

Caroline

This was fine, it kinda felt like a series of blog posts with no forward momentum or true message except doctors are good. Which yes of course but I didn't need to read this book to know that.

This Is Going to Hurt

i was floored by the bbc show. shruti acharya… i’m forever hurt. and so when i walked into a book fair and saw this (mind you i had no idea it was based off a book, only that it was a true story) of course i grabbed it without a second thought. 

ben whittleshaw perfectly captured adam kay’s humor & dry wit to the BONE. 4 stars because why the fuck was kay making so many fatphobic comments?! what a d*ck

yasmini

i was floored by the bbc show. shruti acharya… i’m forever hurt. and so when i walked into a book fair and saw this (mind you i had no idea it was based off a book, only that it was a true story) of course i grabbed it without a second thought. 

ben whittleshaw perfectly captured adam kay’s humor & dry wit to the BONE. 4 stars because why the fuck was kay making so many fatphobic comments?! what a d*ck

the show was better ultimately.

altlovesbooks

Equal parts funny, sad, and wtf (as in, "wtf were they thinking when they put < insert object > up their bum?!"). This was a diary in the life of an OB/GYN working with the NHS as he describes life on the hospital floor delivering babies, stitching up mothers, and regaling the reader with an endless litany of things found in places they shouldn't be. Doctors the world over are overworked, underpaid, and criminally underappreciated for the things they have to put up with. If you know a doctor, or anyone who works in the medical industry, I think the afterword sums it up best. Ask them how their day was, give them an avenue to vent, and let them know they always can. Because they sure as hell don't get the support they need from the people they work for.

Just as a minor note, this book was written from the point of view of someone in the UK, so a lot of specific NHS stuff that's described may be different in the states. I don't have a medical background beyond being able to point at a stethoscope if asked, but it may be jarring for someone in a different location. I imagine the woes are the same the world over, though. 

A great book, a short book, a funny book, a sad book.

Fast-paced, funny read. I enjoyed it as long as I ignored the fatphobic side comments I’d expect from a doctor.

Amelia Hruby

Another Edition of a Book that I should have read years ago but I finally have after being gifted it for Christmas! What a Book it is - This is one of the most Poignant books I think that I will ever read. It’s beautiful, heart-wrenching, hilarious all at the same page and each diary entry leaves either laughing, crying or just about every emotion in between.

A Memoir or Adam Kay’s Life on the NHS Front Line and with Kays unique writing style it draws you in to the tails from that front line from a Junior Doctor seeing behind the curtain if you will! I could not put this down and when I did I was constantly thinking about it. It’s a Book that I would highly Recommend to anyone and everyone.   

Ian Brakspear

Another Edition of a Book that I should have read years ago but I finally have after being gifted it for Christmas! What a Book it is - This is one of the most Poignant books I think that I will ever read. It’s beautiful, heart-wrenching, hilarious all at the same page and each diary entry leaves either laughing, crying or just about every emotion in between.

A Memoir or Adam Kay’s Life on the NHS Front Line and with Kays unique writing style it draws you in to the tails from that front line from a Junior Doctor seeing behind the curtain if you will! I could not put this down and when I did I was constantly thinking about it. It’s a Book that I would highly Recommend to anyone and everyone.   

Isabella

took me a few days to get into in the first two chapters, but i ended up devouring the rest of the book  in one sitting

It’s should be in everyone’s reading list

Erika Kodama

Truly an excellent book.

It’s should be in everyone’s reading list

This Is Going To Hurt

Hilarious, heartbreaking and gives you a deeper appreciation for the NHS and all those working hard in the medical profession. The honesty within these pages is really enlightening. All against a backdrop of dry humour that really makes the ending of these diary entries even more emotional.

Victoria Justice

Lynn

A must read!! Hilarious, serious, fun, sarcastic, gory and so important to understand the dedication and passion all NHS workers put in their job. One of my favourite reads this year.

Joana da Silva

What a book! Made me laugh out loud and had me talking about it nonstop to anyone that would listen.

I remember this causing quite a bit of a stir back when it was published and yet here we are again, with mass walk-outs and strikes by NHS staff and a borderline dystopian government that is both determined to run it into the ground and has effectively banned the NHS from striking after clocking in every Thursday at 8pm to clap, whistle and whatnot for the brave NHS staff for months. Maybe Rishi Sunak should pick this up while he is enjoying whatever exorbitant property his wife's off-shore tax-free money have bought (or the latest Mrs Johnson's £100k No. 10 refurb).

I have heard plenty of healthcare anecdotes on my own, primarily from my Aunt who works both in non-NHS owned hospital and consults for an NHS trust hospital. Healthcare is a bottomless pit of resources (monetary, human, etc.) and I am acutely aware of the toll it takes on the people working within the system. Perhaps we need to boost the popularity of this book again to remind this to the people who may not know any doctors socially.

The book is an honest depiction of the realities of working in the healthcare sphere and uses a lot of effective humour to make them more palatable. I liked that it is neither patronising nor does it try to sanctify the medical profession - while Adam Kay himself says that you become a doctor because you want to do the job, he never tries to speak of it as some holy vocation. It is a sentiment I have heard from more than one person close to me and it seems to help humanise doctors - they are just people trying to do their very stressful, very responsible job and are worthy of respect and dignity and compassion just like everyone else.

(Side note but if doctors are not being paid well and architects are not being paid well (I am qualified to say this), who the hell from the big three professions 

 being paid well? Can a lawyer chime in, please?)

I remember this causing quite a bit of a stir back when it was published and yet here we are again, with mass walk-outs and strikes by NHS staff and a borderline dystopian government that is both determined to run it into the ground and has effectively banned the NHS from striking after clocking in every Thursday at 8pm to clap, whistle and whatnot for the brave NHS staff for months. Maybe Rishi Sunak should pick this up while he is enjoying whatever exorbitant property his wife's off-shore tax-free money have bought (or the latest Mrs Johnson's £100k No. 10 refurb).

I have heard plenty of healthcare anecdotes on my own, primarily from my Aunt who works both in non-NHS owned hospital and consults for an NHS trust hospital. Healthcare is a bottomless pit of resources (monetary, human, etc.) and I am acutely aware of the toll it takes on the people working within the system. Perhaps we need to boost the popularity of this book again to remind this to the people who may not know any doctors socially.

The book is an honest depiction of the realities of working in the healthcare sphere and uses a lot of effective humour to make them more palatable. I liked that it is neither patronising nor does it try to sanctify the medical profession - while Adam Kay himself says that you become a doctor because you want to do the job, he never tries to speak of it as some holy vocation. It is a sentiment I have heard from more than one person close to me and it seems to help humanise doctors - they are just people trying to do their very stressful, very responsible job and are worthy of respect and dignity and compassion just like everyone else.

(Side note but if doctors are not being paid well and architects are not being paid well (I am qualified to say this), who the hell from the big three professions is being paid well? Can a lawyer chime in, please?)

insightful to say the least, it is often so unrecognised just how difficult and demanding the jobs of doctors nurses and medics can be. makes me wanna run 🏃‍♀️ jk #nursing4lyfe anyways so many funny anecdotes got me smiling and gasping at my book :o 

jess

Caroline Oestergaard

Heartbreaking, eye opening and hilarious. This is such a brilliant insight into the life of the people working at our hospitals, how overworked they are and just how much the general public take them for granted. Everyone and their mother should read this.

Really funny. I love Adam’s voice and how he recounts his experiences. As a child of an Ob-Gyn, so many things were familiar yet new and I really enjoyed that. The situations seem almost unreal to read about yet are such human experiences to read about. I read this because I wanted to watch the show but this certainly was not what I was expecting. It really is disheartening to understand the sorry state of healthcare workers (and the industry as a whole), and that it is a universal experience.

Quickest read of my life. Would definitely revisit one day.

Giana

Really funny. I love Adam’s voice and how he recounts his experiences. As a child of an Ob-Gyn, so many things were familiar yet new and I really enjoyed that. The situations seem almost unreal to read about yet are such human experiences to read about. I read this because I wanted to watch the show but this certainly was not what I was expecting. It really is disheartening to understand the sorry state of healthcare workers (and the industry as a whole), and that it is a universal experience.

Quickest read of my life. Would definitely revisit one day.

Sarah Pino

Alistair James

The funniest book I have read in ages, right up to the end, which was so tragically sad.

Sofia Nunes

"so I told them the truth: the hours are terrible, the pay is terrible, the conditions are terrible; you're underappreciated, unsupported, disrespected, and frequently physically endangered. but there's no better job in the world."
Hilarious, heartbreaking, and important. If you are related to the health department, read this book. If you are not, read it as well. It is that important.

Adam Valentino

Without a doubt my favourite ever book. The most enjoyable combination of (literally) laugh out loud humour with (literally) tear inducing heartbreak and tragedy. This is an absolute must read. Every time I lend one of my copies out it always comes back with the same response - "Thank you for the recommendation, couldn't put it down, I read it all within two days"!

Rachel Evans

(5/5) 3 hours 6 minutes - This book was not what I was expecting, as it was so much better, so much more engaging, and so much more insightful than anything I had expected. The writing style is funny but provides so much insight into how the NHS runs and the way doctors experience daily life. It was so heart-breaking in places, yet hilarious in others. I don't usually enjoy reading non-fiction, as I often find it boring and hard-to-read, but none of these problems applied to this book at all. I loved it.

This is Going to Hurt Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

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