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  • This Is Going to Hurt

  • Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
  • By: Adam Kay
  • Narrated by: Adam Kay
  • Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (27,507 ratings)
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This Is Going to Hurt

By: Adam Kay
Narrated by: Adam Kay
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Summary

Winner of a record three National Book Awards: Non-Fiction Book of the Year, New Writer of the Year and Zoe Ball Book Club Book of the Year.

The million-copy best seller. 

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 best seller and Humour Book of the Year.

This edition includes extra diary entries and a new afterword by the author. 

©2017 Adam Kay (P)2017 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic reviews

"Painfully funny. The pain and the funniness somehow add up to something entirely good, entirely noble and entirely loveable." (Stephen Fry)

What listeners say about This Is Going to Hurt

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

it's amazing what people do for fun..

enjoyed the book..no story just a diary of hospital doctor...quite amusing..don't read it if you are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant!!!!! Interest in thobgs medical would be good to properly enjoy book

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this, gives a wonderful insight into the job

As a nurse of 49 years..... much of this spent in the community where we have a policy that district nurses just have to see however many patients the hospital or GPs send to them with no ceiling on numbers and no consideration of safety or sanity, I can completely identify with much of what he talks about. It is so sad these days, to see how the NHS is being devalued and destroyed by a poor management system and a wish to privatise and make money from people's ill health. when it's gone it's gone. There will always be some bad apples but the vast majority of doctors and nurses go above and beyond day in day out.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Funny, honest, sad and entertaining!

As someone who works within the NHS I found this a very true representation of the pressures placed on junior doctors while also giving an entertaining spin on some awkward and difficult situations that occur within a hospital setting. As the author no longer works as a doctor it also means that he seems much more open about his personal opinion on his patients, colleagues and the state of the NHS. I found myself laughing out loud and almost in tears at some of the anecdotes of his working and (lack of) personal life. Definitely worth a listen but be aware that as the author works in obstetrics and gynaecology there are some very sad moments that may hit a nerve with anyone who has recently experienced similar issues. A refreshing and honest look at work in medicine this is a very entertaining audiobook and I also really enjoyed the interview at the end of the book as a nice extra.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Hilarious, poignant, and occasionally traumatising

I loved this book. It made me laugh, gasp, and occasionally brought me close to tears with some of its more heartbreaking moments. It shines a light on the plight of the NHS and the horrendous expectations placed on its staff in recent years, but Adam Kay never comes across as preachy or pessimistic. The audio book narration is fantastic too, not only is Kay an entertaining writer, he narrates in a style that captures the dry wit of the book perfectly.

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1 person found this helpful

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Shockingly funny and painful.

I downloaded the book because my cousin, who is a doctor, said it was fantastic and was a good representation of the NHS. Wow! From the very beginning I was hooked and finished it in just over a day. The book contains lots of anecdotes and examples of the day-to-day struggle of being a doctor. It is quite shocking just how hard pressed our medical staff are and they are clearly doing impossible work mostly through an incredible dedication to the job and patients. If you're not moved by this book and instantly hate the current government for what they are doing to our NHS then you must get yourself to the doctors for an empathy prescription. #GTTO

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

It only HURT as I laughed so much !

Misery cure for sure!
Scary at times, hilarious throughout...
Will likely listen once again !

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Hilarious

Super funny at times and very interesting at others!! Glad to see the author has left the industry so can speak openly! Well worth a purchase

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Brilliant ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hit the nail in the head, hilariously heart wrenching, with some honest truths about the NHS, or what's being done to it.

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Brilliant

Laughed out loud! Also very poignant in relation to the daily struggles of the NHS

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Heartbreaking yet funny

This is such a good book and a bittersweet insight into the medical profession and the journey Junior Doctors take. Whilst it is packed full of funny & somewhat toe curling anecdotes, it also highlights the many lows of the job/career. And to think Adam Kay is just one of thousands of medical professionals every year that has gone through this; each with their own set of stories of ridiculous patients and examples of red tape bureaucracy.

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