What if the person treating you was running on caffeine, instinct and pure luck?
Most people imagine hospitals as well-oiled machines where highly trained professionals follow clear protocols and everything runs like clockwork. The reality is often very different.
In Does It Hurt When I Press Here?, NHS Emergency Department doctor Willy M Black takes you behind the scenes of frontline healthcare and reveals a world that is chaotic, exhausting, frustrating, absurd and, at times, surprisingly funny.
From bizarre patient encounters and dark humour in the staff room to impossible workloads, dangerous staffing shortages and the emotional toll of life-and-death decisions, these are the stories the public rarely gets to hear.
Some patients arrive with genuine emergencies. Others arrive convinced they are dying because they swallowed a watermelon seed. Welcome to A&E.
Part memoir, part social commentary and part behind-the-scenes journey into one of Britain's most pressured institutions, this book offers an honest and often eye-opening account of what really happens after you hand over your body and your trust to the NHS.
You'll discover:
- What life is really like inside a busy Emergency Department
- The strange, funny and unforgettable patients doctors encounter every day
- Why mistakes happen even when staff are doing their best
- How frontline healthcare workers cope with impossible demands
- Why the NHS struggles despite the dedication of the people working within it
This is not an attack on the NHS. It is a candid, humorous and deeply human account from someone who cares about the system and wants it to survive.
Some stories will make you laugh. Some will shock you. Some may make you angry. All of them will stay with you.
If you enjoyed books such as This Is Going to Hurt, or if you've ever wondered what really happens behind the hospital curtain, this book is for you.
