This is going to hurt

Consultants think they are God.

I do know some lovely ones, particularly female Consultants.

I knew Junior doctors worked very hard with long hours but if Mr. Lockhart is a true and realistic portrayal of a consultant how on earth is this allowed to happen? Working such gruelling hours not only places patients in danger but also the junior doctors themselves. Falling asleep in a car and more terrifying the thought of anyone driving after such long shifts. Clearly more full time doctors need to be trained sooner rather than later.

Having second thoughts about having my gall bladder removed in two weeks time! ?? I’m not normally squeamish but it was a bit gory.

The first consultant I had was horrendously rude to staff and patients and a useless doctor as well who did serious damage. My latest consultant is great. Friendly, caring and down to earth.

I thought Ben Whishaw looked very grubby somehow. I don’t mean his blood spattered scrubs, just in himself he seemed like he needed a good wash, which I’m sure he did with his workload.

Didn’t match up to the vision of a well scrubbed doctor.

This was pretty true to life. Obs and Gynae is busy, but junior doctors in General Medicine have an even harder time. The expectation from the government that there will be an extra 10% productivity for the NHS to address backlogs will further increase the burden of junior doctors, and I genuinely don’t know how they will cope. I think it’s going to be tough viewing.

OnwardandUpward

Consultants think they are God. It's a hard road to get there and when they do, I think they must be walking on air. Most may not make it?

I haven't read the books, but it seemed pretty realistic in terms of the short staff and gritty too. A bit yuk when the floor had blood all over it, but I'd watch again.

Please don't generalise.
My son in law is a consultant of many years standing. He has dedicated himself to his work. Much loved and respected by staff and patients alike. He most certainly does not think he is God. A very offensive, hurtful remark.

I actually know some really lovely ones of both genders, so didn't mean offence. I was referring to the one in the programme as you could see the power he had.

Sorry to cause offence with my thoughtless remark.

Call me shallow but I spent most of the programme wondering why Ben W was so thin. Had to avert my eyes when he stripped off. The man is seriously underweight.

Actually my son is as thin as Ben and he is about 6’ 3”. He eats healthily and lots of it but doesn’t put on weight at all!

I have a feeling that obstetrics produces rather more god like consultants. Perhaps some of them think we'd never manage to produce babies without them. One of my friends was a midwife and went to great lengths to avoid being delivered by her consultant and I met a very unpleasant one before I had my first baby. I was just an inconvenient piece of meat to him and needed to be got out of the way as quickly as possible.

On the other hand DH's consultant is a lovely man. I always said I would walk over hot coals for him and his staff feel the same. A nurse from another department once said to me "If you were seriously ill he's the doctor you'd want looking after you" and that's the thing; he didn't just treat people he looked after them.

They may have made a mistake promoting the show as a comedy. The book is often hilariously funny -I hope we we see the mother with her micro managed birth plan who then discovered what labour is really like! But parts of it are heart breakingly tragic but they are part of hospital life. I don't think they had enough blood in the nightmare c section. When it happened to DD's friend they couldn't count the swabs because they were all submerged in the blood and her husband (who saw the whole thing) had to burn all his clothes when he got home.

I was so disappointed in this after seeing Adam Kay talking about his life as a doctor and reading the book.
I worked in the NHS for the whole of my career and I survived on black humour, but this book just didn’t translate onto the screen well.
I feel sorry for anyone going into hospital to have a baby after seeing this.

I read the book a while back and watched last night. I think it's an absolute disgrace that people who work in healthcare with so much responsibility should work such long hours. No wonder mistakes are made - how can you make a good decision if you're exhausted?

Dear late husband was a lorry driver who worked long hours and there were rules in place to prevent that sort of thing, though a bad employer would exploit loop-holes in the system, as ever.

I found it very bleak and sad. Not sure if I’ll continue watching it. I do, in general, like black comedy but I don’t think they’ve got the balance right with this adaptation.

All the blood was a bit shocking, especially during the Placenta Praevia operation.

Yes, I did mean that obs and gynae consultants are a bit like Gods because of the miracle of childbirth.

I will probably watch it again.

I have binge watched the whole series over last night and today and have loved it. It's emotional and realistic reminding me of the years I spent nursing in hospital over last 40 years. I remember the doctors trying to stay awake with very sleep over weekends on call and the racism,assaults and relentless work in casualty. This is NHS in the raw. Doctors and nurses pushed to their limits with mistakes being made and personal relationships shattered.
Advise all to keep watching. There are traumas,tears and humour throughout the series.

Apologies Gwyneth - that’s good to hear. Apparently TV adds 10lb to your appearance as well.

Some of Adam's misadventures remind me of the unfortunate registrar who had to do DH's last bone marrow biopsy. If you don't know it can be a pretty unpleasant procedure and will hopefully be over fairly quickly. This poor chap must have taken a full 45 minutes coming out several times to change equipment and ask for advice all the while trying to look as if everything was under control. In the end it all went well and painlessly but we teased him unmercifully about it (he knew we didn't mean it, we'd all been through a lot together)

I seem to remember when I had my first baby two doctors reading a manual on how to put electrodes on the babies head. While I was saying ‘ hurry up, I haven’t voted yet’ ( it was the day Margaret Thatcher was elected). Although it might have been me imagining it having had various drugs….

Kate54 please don’t apologise just saying that some people have the kind of metabolism that allows them to eat a lot and not put on weight. Sadly that’s not me!! I actually used to worry about my son’s weight. He’s always been thin but he’s very healthy and has a normal appetite.

MayBee70 My second baby was induced. I had no idea how this would be done and was rather apprehensive. The midwife came in with a locum doctor who picked up an electrode and said "I've not used this one before, how does it work?" I did feel that I'd have liked one of us to know what we were doing! 44 years later DS still has a little bald spot where the electrode burnt his head.

You may all be reassured to hear that my NQ medic daughter says in eight years she’s never come across a doctor, student or qualified, as incompetent as poor Shruti. Phew!

SueDonim

You may all be reassured to hear that my NQ medic daughter says in eight years she’s never come across a doctor, student or qualified, as incompetent as poor Shruti. Phew!

I dont know whether the nurses and doctors were incompetent or not, they left on my own to deliver my DC in hospital.

Nan6 I understand your misgivings. A doctor friend said all doctors should read the the book but no patients.
The placenta abrupta was very graphic, my daughter, and prem grandchild who came 10 weeks early, happily survived a similar event. I shan’t go out of my way to suggest that either watches the programme. Even a young doctor specialising in obs and gynae thought it luridly graphic. It’s far darker than I anticipated but I shall continue watching.

Nan6 I understand your misgivings. A doctor friend said all doctors should read the the book but no patients.
The placenta abrupta was very graphic, my daughter, and prem grandchild who came 10 weeks early, happily survived a similar event. I shan’t go out of my way to suggest that either watches the programme. Even a young doctor specialising in obs and gynae thought it luridly graphic. It’s far darker than I anticipated but I shall continue watching.

For some reason I watched episode two instead of episode one last night so I’ve just watched episode one and it’s making more sense to me. If sense is the right word. It’s growing on me….