HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED what it would be like to become a family doctor? Are you interested in the National Health Service in the 1980s and 1990s?
Set in Wales and based on real-life experience, this humorous, character-led look at General Practice combines gentle satire with darker overtones.
Join flawed family doctor, Desmond Dennis, as he struggles half-heartedly in a floundering health service.
Meet lots of patients and learn about their illnesses. Valerie Vaughan’s first-hand experience of a wide variety of health problems has given her a professional air of confidence and the willingness to challenge any medical opinion. Carole Crosby is prickly and impatient. Tim Chapman is dying of liver cirrhosis. Ethel Austin battles bravely on despite her severe heart failure. Then there’s Phil Davies, Max, Anam Lakhani, Neil Plummer and many more.
Amanda Summers designed the cover and has provided thirty three colour illustrations.
You can buy this book directly from me through my payhip bookshop. It is also available from Amazon and Kobo. The e-book edition is £7.99 and the paperback edition is £12.99.
READ SHORT SAMPLE
Happy New Year!
Friday 1st January 1988
At home, 1:00 p.m.
My name is Dennis Dennis. I am thirteen years old. My dad is Dr Desmond Dennis. He is a family doctor. He wants me to follow in his footsteps. He says that his job is very satisfying.
I don’t really fancy becoming a doctor. I have tried to tell him, but he doesn’t listen. The more I resist, the more he tries to persuade me.
The other day I told him that I was thinking of becoming a sports journalist and he said that he had arranged for me to spend some time in the surgery: a bit of work experience.
Hot little children
Wednesday 6th January 1988
Morning surgery, 11:00 a.m.
‘The whole population seems to think that every child needs to see a doctor every time they get a temperature. I have had enough of seeing hot little children this week.’ My dad was looking quite hot and bothered himself. It had been a busy few days.
‘The parents are just worried about meningitis, Dad.’
‘Your mother and I never took you or your brother to the doctor when you had a temperature, Dennis.’
‘Yes, but you’re a doctor, Dad, and Mum’s a nurse.’
‘Well, I never examined you and, in fact, your mother never actually checked your temperature.’
‘You didn’t examine me, even if I was really ill?’
‘I don’t think you were ever really ill, Dennis.’
‘What about Declan? Is that why he had a burst appendix? Was it because you didn’t examine him?’
‘No, Dennis. I have told you and your brother this lots of times. Declan had typical symptoms of food poisoning. No one would have suspected appendicitis.’
FREE SHORT STORY
If you sign up to my mailing list, you will receive a copy of ‘Turning a Blind Eye’. This is my short story about the plight of junior doctor, Nisha Bukhari.
ABOUT AMANDA SUMMERS
I asked Amanda to illustrate my book because her characters are brilliant. You can immediately see that they are real people with real problems.