This is Going to Hurt Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.   

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

Truly an excellent book.

It’s should be in everyone’s reading list

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.

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.

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

I actually laughed out loud during it.

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

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.

HILARIOUS

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

"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.

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"!

(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 was absolutely PHENOMENAL!!! I adored this book from the first page to the very last. Adam Kay’s writing was so incredible and his way of telling his story as a doctor was done so well I was genuinely so impressed. This book made me laugh, smile, and just overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. We got such an in depth look into what life as a doctor is really like and I found every aspect of this book so gripping and incredibly interesting. I would honestly recommend this book to absolutely everyone!!!