Book Review - This Is Going To Hurt

​Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships... Welcome to the life of a junior doctor.

I saw Kay perform his delightfully disgusting parody songs on the Amateur Transplants tour way back in 2008. The humour in this book is much the same - bodily fluids, a healthy disregard for squeamishness, and some big-and-clever swearing.

If you have any mates in the medical profession, you'll have heard similar anecdotes to the ones in the book. Patients sticking stuff up their bums, doctors accidentally chopping off the wrong bits, bosses leaving equipment inside a patient. It is a well-worn seam of comedy.

Don't get me wrong, it is funny - and a stark look at the realities of working in the NHS - but it probably won't teach you anything new. It's a quick read and entertaining enough - although not great for people with a fear of blood.

I'd recommend that you read Blood, Sweat, and Tea - Brian Kellett's amazing account of life working on London's Ambulances. Funnier and more raw.