Not in the Best of Health: The forthright and entertaining memoirs of an NHS paediatrician
£4.70
How did it come to this? Not in the Best of Health describes a medical career stretching from that of a fledgling student, to that of a worn out and disillusioned senior consultant paediatrician. In Charles Godden’s sharply observed memoir, stories of sick children and those who treated them are described with candour, humour and insight gained over three decades working in hospitals stretching from Papua New Guinea to the UK.
If you want to know why the NHS is failing, and what might be done to save this most treasured institution, read this book.
EARLY REVIEWS
‘Not in the Best of Health will entertain and shock. This is an outstanding medical narrative from Godden who records a life in paediatrics and pulls no punches documenting his experiences of clinical medicine and the frustrations of NHS administration. His integrity and experience shine throughout with equal amounts of humour and poignancy.
His clinical scenarios are elegantly described such that lay readers will completely understand. This book should be read by anyone with even a passing interest in medical literature or with aspirations to work with children in the medical sphere.’ – Professor Neil Wilson MB BS DCH FRCPCH FSCAI
‘Spanning three decades of reorganisation, over-management, declining consultant autonomy and sleepless nights this inimitable memoir shines a sharp light on our parlous NHS. Patient focussed and moving, funny but serious,
it is a must read.’ – Professor of primary care (general practice) Anthony Harnden
‘WARNING! This is an honest reflection written with great humour and enviable humility of a career in medicine. Toe curling in places, totally relatable, and an essential read for those in, around, or interested in healthcare.’ – Dr Craig Marshall, Intensive Care Medicine Registrar
‘Whilst maintaining his effortless wit, Charles presents an honest account into the occasional highs and tragic lows of an NHS paediatrician. I really enjoyed the read and it certainly highlights the struggles I have ahead of me!’ – Robbie Hill, a first year medical student
‘I rarely read medical books for recreation – too much of a busman’s holiday. However, perhaps because we both qualified in 1983 and are both paediatricians, I found many of Charles Godden’s recollections from the front line resonated with me. His views are sometimes provocative and some readers may differ with his forthright opinions but many of the personal tragedies and uplifting successes ring very true.’ – Professor Sir Terence Stephenson, DM, FRCPCH, FRCP, Past chair of GMC and past president Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
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Additional information
| Publisher | Goldcrest Books International Ltd (17 Nov. 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 4598 KB |
| Simultaneous device usage | Unlimited |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 512 pages |
by Emily Nagle
This is a great read not just ‘gripping’ with its medical stories and anecdotes but also because it provides the reader with some insight into just how and why a once great institution is failing.
As a senior clinician (not EN) that has also recently left the NHS (though also not retired, as I am not yet ready to hang up my stethoscope), I found this book fascinating – my former colleague Dr Godden has carefully researched and written down a lot of what has gone wrong with the NHS and medicine itself – as both have changed beyond recognition during our professional careers.
As a consultant of same era, albeit in a different department, I felt many similar moments he describes so well in my own career and suspect we all have- so look no further why our NHS is haemorrhaging experienced senior clinicians.
I hope Charles helps reinvents what must surely follow – which is a clinician run service!
For those junior doctors that read this book who may feel dismayed – I would say “do not be despondent – use the material to understand the diagnosis, and for gods sake devise (or help those with a vision) a treatment that works!
by Dr Daniel Connor
This memoir of a career in the NHS is shocking, humbling, laugh out loud funny, frightening, heart warming and a very well written warts and all critique on the progression of the NHS over the last four decades. The early years of crazy shifts and the craziness it creates (think Jed Mercurio’s Cardiac Arrest series) leads on to an over-regulated over meddled with modern NHS that doesn’t work well for clinicians or patients (think Adam Kay’s This Will Hurt). Both of the above left medicine as junior doctors. Dr Godden describes sticking with it through a career with a wry and amusing insight from all facets – including as a patient and as a senior manager. All of this is carried through using patient vignettes, historical events and cricket to balance against the dissolution of the much loved NHS through recurrent reformation. Sensible suggestions for how things could be fixed/improved end the book – this should be on every MPs Christmas list. Thoroughly recommended. No medical knowledge required.
by John O’Driscoll, GP Worcester
This is my story! As a contemporary of Charles Godden, qualified within a year of him in London, I wish I could have written of my journey through the NHS with such compelling and honest prose. I couldn’t put this down, and I don’t think you will be able to either. The drama of the patient stories receive the primacy they merit, but the frustrations of the system are so well elucidated that you will wonder how any conscientious doctor could continue in the job as long as Godden did.
The absolute tyranny of the bleep, the highs and lows of very sick children, some of whom do well and some of whom don’t, the endless cycle of “reorganisation,” the dishonesty of management, the chronic tiredness and interrupted sleep, the disasters of the European Working Time Directive, the Private Finance Initiative and Project 2000 for nurses. The parents who are usually right but not always right, the heartsink anti-vaxxers, the consultants who don’t listen, the midwives seemingly devoid of human feeling, the junior doctor who abandons their boss in the middle of a critical resuscitation to catch the last train, they are all here.
You must read this.
by Dr. Mehul Lakhani
So so well written, especially by someone who is not a professional author. Will make you laugh out loud.
by Kevin
This is an interesting book covering a working life in the NHS. It well written and I liked the structure based on case histories. The were some important insights and the honesty was courageous. But I found the the criticism of the NHS non clinical management was too one sided for me. Many of the problems in the health service are down to the behaviours of doctors in management positions, their egos and the conflicts of interest driven by private practice which lead to power struggles. A more balanced account would have included this. But definitely worth reading.
by Nic Allen
A really good and enjoyable read. A very rare, open and truthful account of life in medicine. I was taken along by Charles Godden’s journey as a paediatrician sharing his experiences, some quite sad or challenging but interspersed with humour. Some events he describes in his medical career and extensive travels are almost unreal but beautifully recounted. I found that his descriptions, some in detail, of his patients (many babies), their illnesses and how he treated them was sometimes difficult to read but also fascinating. I would not like to have to take the responsibility he describes caring for patients, often tiny, with complex health problems. Overall I think that he shows the humanity and fallibility of doctors and medical staff and also the many problems within the NHS. I found it difficult to put down and would strongly recommend it.
by Dr Nick Driver former Consultant Paediatrician BSc MB ChB MRCP(UK) PGCE
This book made me both laugh out loud and cry. It is a deeply personal analysis of a life lived to the full at every opportunity whilst attempting to help others in difficulty despite increasing bureaucracy.
It outlines, similar to Siegfried Sassoon from an earlier era, both youthful thrill-seeking and the dilemmas of attempting caring of fellow humans in difficulties. It deserves to be equally widely read and influential.
It describes both patient health issues in comprehensible and funny ways and also how he dealt with the uncertainties of providing best care for them, when getting it wrong could be fatal. His fears were at times fully justified and his actions if had been mistaken potentially career ending.
It is also a mature reflection upon major difficulties our health serviced has experienced from the 1980s until now as well as outlines the series of ridiculous decisions that have brought us to this point.
I hope it can act as call to arms for a society to improve our failing, unsustainable healthcare system, not by yet another report which always just increase the administration and management burden, but by addressing the Kafkaesque issues wherein achievable healthcare can be provided.
I think the book should be read by anyone who wishes to think about why the NHS is in deep trouble.