Who is popular today?

From the secret diaries of a junior doctor to a lawyer who can’t stop walking … heartbreak and humour in tales of meltdown
We need our health service now more than ever. Coronavirus has come at a time when we thought there was no more stretch left in the NHS, but healthcare workers are still finding the energy and enthusiasm to provide care for all those in need. Due to the crisis, medical staff around the world are at an even greater risk of suffering burnout.
Adam Kay’s hugely popular, funny and heartbreaking 2017 memoir This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor brought the everyday realities of extreme fatigue to the forefront of public consciousness. Nurses and doctors have been leaving the profession in order to safeguard their own health and wellbeing, but a sense of duty has now called many back to the frontline. Joanna Cannon’s empathy for the patients she writes about in her poignant memoir, Breaking & Mending, again shows how challenging working in healthcare can be. Cannon worked as a hospital doctor before specialising in psychiatry. She finds it is nearly impossible to give the standard of care that people deserve without diminishing her emotional reserves. Continue reading...