Back to normal, or something approaching it. I thought I'd start by reviewing Tony Copperfield's book 'Sick Notes' which I promised to do before events overtook me.
There's been a lot of reviews of this book, some complimentary and some less so. It's a breeze to read. It ain't Dr Findlay and it's not high literature. But what it actually is, is a very useful book. This book paints in squirming detail the day to day idiocies of the modern NHS that have resulted from policies on high, and the endless battle to try and find a human path around them. From the form filling, to waiting list protocols to choose and book; Tony Copperfield gives the worm's eye view of them all and therein lies the book's true value.
The accepted books on the politics of the NHS are Allyson Pollock's NHS PLC and John Lister's 'The NHS at 60; for Patients or Profits'. But neither of them are easy reads. 'Sick Notes' is, and of the three books, this is the one that I would give to a lay person or MP to read as an introduction to the present chaos within the NHS. (Then I'd give them the other two).
This is a political book that's easy to read. Give it to your non medic pals the next time they start moaning about GPs. Give it to your MPs. Send a copy to Andrew Lansley. They'll read and understand. And maybe, just maybe, they might do something about it.
