Drama this is going to hurt

[Thomasina79]

I found the book brilliantly funny. I have worked in admin hospitals and primary care, so can relate re cut backs etc.

Anyone else enjoying this drama, if that’s the right word! True to life. Any doctors, nurses etc anyone?

I can understand completely where you are coming from @scrunchies. Junior doctors thrown in at the deep end on their first day at work. Get shouted at if they call for help, get shouted out if they don't by both seniors and patients. I am glad that other professions can and will intervene more now (I have an email from a junior doctor thanking me for intervening and saving both the patient and his licence to practice). Fortunately the on call system has changed since AK's day and obs and gynae trainees are more than likely to be female.
I have been to enough student rag events to have encountered some very dark humour amongst medics as often as not to protect themselves from what they are dealing with each day (and night).

I have 3 miscarriages, one so early we never got to see the baby on the scan- the other two we had scans where we could see there was no heartbeat.

I have never had anyone say it was a bunch of cells, or had any inclination that Is what they thought. The compassion and support I was given by staff was second to none. It is now 20 year since the fist one and I can still remember the faces of staff who tried to comfort me, even if I don’t remember names.

Any attempt to minimise how I felt would have been devestating

*first

I liked the bit where he said 'I'm in charge of this ward' and the lead nurse basically said 'no you're not mate, I am' (she's right of course). He at least seemed to listen to that. He's by far not the most arrogant doctor in real life sadly (I work for the NHS). There are some lovely drs but certainly arrogance appears to have been actively encouraged in the older ones.

I watched one episode and can’t watch any more. My first baby died during delivery and all I can now think about is could he have been saved if he was delivered by a more competent doctor and was there some sort of cover up.

This show depicts a doctor with burn out. That's the point. He is dedicated and was empathic but he's slowly been worn down by the excessive demands of the job.

@raffegiraffe

This show depicts a doctor with burn out. That's the point. He is dedicated and was empathic but he's slowly been worn down by the excessive demands of the job.

So dedicated he was on his mobile and complicit with a senior college helping to cover up problems.

I don't think anyone read my post so I will highlight the relevant bits. Unless patient care goes wrong no one listens. I constantly raise issues related to patient and staff safety. These include not enough staff to care for critically sick patients, confused and wandering patients not able to be observed. This means observations not taken in a timely manner, so delayed post op obs, blood glucose readings, anti biotics for sepsis. Usually, but not always the patients are ok, may have a delay in discharge but, UNLESS something goes wrong our incident reports, pleas for help etc are ignored. As nurses we tend to work through breaks and leave late to get all of these jobs done to keep patients safe. We do care. I don't know what else to do.

When we raise issues we are told ' It's the same everywhere' or' all your team do is complain'. I continuously report dangerous situations but get so upset with the generic response I just feel disheartened. It is an unbelievable and unfair stress. Whistleblowers are not encouraged.

We are reporting the reality of working in a decimated system. Staff morale and MH is at an all-time low. I feel upset and empathy for the patients. I am embarrassed about some of the things that have happened, patients being incontinent because we cannot get to them on time, I feel all I do is make excuses but, it's the truth. I don't believe in hiding that from my patients. We are told not to tell patients if we are short staffed, like they can't see it. I have been in tears on my break alot more recently. My DH wants me to leave but I feel attached to the NHS.

@raffegiraffe

This show depicts a doctor with burn out. That's the point. He is dedicated and was empathic but he's slowly been worn down by the excessive demands of the job.

Yes it does depict a doctor with burn out. It depicts an arrogant doctor who doesn't appear to like women or have much empathy, and who is burnt out.

Should I watch the drama or read the book first??

I wouldn't bother with the book

The incident in the show where he covers up an incident is not actually in the book.

I would bother with the book. I really liked it and it helped make sense of an incident in a and e. I was in there waiting in a cubicle in agony. I observed a junior doctor in tears on the other side of the curtain. The department was packed. Ambulances queuing outside etc.

Do bother with the book. It's very different and makes excellent points.

I seem to have had a completely different impression to this series to most posters here.

What I took away was that it’s an incredibly stressful and at times traumatic job (whether doctor, nurse or midwife). I wonder how many medical professionals are suffering from PTSD or mental health issues as a consequence?

Neither did I feel it was misogynistic - I felt the humour was a way of coping with extremely stressful life and death situations. It’s just that he works on a labour ward and only women have children. If he’d worked in a&e, the same dark humour might have been directed towards men and women equally.

What I worry about most is how people can continue to be persuaded to work in such under appreciated, under paid, under supported but extremely stressful jobs, with the constant threat of patient complaints hanging over you.

There are a million easier and better paid jobs many of these people could be doing. We will have an increasingly severe recruitment shortage in the NHS if there’s no recognition of just how hard these jobs are.

So if they want to crack a few jokes while they save lives I really don’t mind.

On the BBC news right now, we are told that "Disgraceful" misogyny, discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment have been discovered within the ranks of the Met Police by the police watchdog.”

It goes on to say, “Officers were found to have joked about rape and exchanged offensive social media messages, leading to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to make 15 recommendations.”

“A few jokes” sounds so harmless and benign. They aren’t Knock Knock jokes that people are objecting to. They are ‘jokes’ which just disguise a deeply contemptuous attitude as humour. A lot of humour is used to make serious points.

This is a man who holds women in absolute contempt and has a deep dislike for them. He uses jokes to communicate this because without the ‘humour’ it’s really just downright unpleasant. So make it a joke because then, ha ha, he is only joking.

I’d applaud the BBC for shining a light on institutionalised misogyny if I thought the BBC had any intentions of being so thoughtful to women. The fact is the BBC and the NHS are soul brothers in this behaviour.

My mother says ALL her book club friends hated this book, including her friends who were/ are medics.

Be does the back to back shifts rather than leave the ward uncovered. Have you done that?

@raffegiraffe

Be does the back to back shifts rather than leave the ward uncovered. Have you done that?

No, and I’ve never raised millions for charity either which Saville did, didn’t he?

Acts of kindness, generosity and unselfishness don’t just cancel out anything bad.

@onwardsandupwards22

Should I watch the drama or read the book first??

I hated the book but thought the series was actually well done. I'd skip it and just watch.

Quite enjoyed the book, but that was a few years ago. I watched one of tv programs and hated it. I am a midwife for about 20 years. When I first started yes, some doctors did speak to us and each other like that. There has been so much work to try and improve the culture and in turn maternity safety. This programme made me so sad, I didn't find it funny at all. Sad that we are supposed to laugh at the way he treats the junior dr like shit. The way he 'managed' as he didn't want to disturb the consultant- all whilst risking the safety of the mother and baby. Sadly it did happen. But it just doesn't feel funny. Especially since the recent enquiries into safety in our maternity units.

What I took away was that it’s an incredibly stressful and at times traumatic job (whether doctor, nurse or midwife). I wonder how many medical professionals are suffering from PTSD or mental health issues as a consequence?

Lots - the suicide rate for doctors is incredible, especially during the pandemic. Many of them burn out of the profession, break down, turn to alcohol, etc.

They're told to write reflective diary entries as self-therapy, as they try to navigate their way through a system that's breaking right in front of them.

"Sad that we are supposed to laugh at the way he treats the junior dr like shit. The way he 'managed' as he didn't want to disturb the consultant- all whilst risking the safety of the mother and baby."

But he IS criticised for this and this behaviour isn't presented as acceptable.
This becomes apparent in later episodes though, not sure if you watched it all - look at the home truths delivered to Kay by the midwife in a later episode. Look at the different approach of the female consultant (who's distinctly unimpressed by Kay).

If you look at the series as a whole, it's a portrait of an NHS in crisis. Not just a series focused on one wise-cracking hero (did someone say Afterlife?).

I don't think the comparisons with the Met incident are entirely fair (and I say that as an ethnic minority female). There was clear malice in the Met's comments. I don't see that in Kay's script. He very clearly is trying (though not always succeeding) to get the best outcome for his patients. You couldn't say the same for the Met.
(BTW if you're going to criticise Kay for misogyny then you'd probably better also accuse Ricky Gervais of just about everything for Afterlife).

cupolaoftea - it is so appalling that there isn't more support.

We were supposed to laugh at his bad treatment of other staff? I just disliked him more and more, he tried to be nicer to the next junior doctor but by then it was to late. I do wonder what her parents think, now knowing how terrible a boss he was?

@ivykaty44

We were supposed to laugh at his bad treatment of other staff? I just disliked him more and more, he tried to be nicer to the next junior doctor but by then it was to late. I do wonder what her parents think, now knowing how terrible a boss he was?

I don't actually think the Shruti storyline was in the book, I could be misremembering of course