Overview
Hey everyone!
Welcome to this week’s article where we review ‘The Secret GP’ by Dr Max Skittle and uncover what life is really like in your GP’s surgery.
Today’s book review will cover the following topics:
Rating
One Line Summary
Where can I buy it?
Book Summary
Writing Style & Design
What I Learnt from this Book?
Who Should Read this Book
Quotes & Excerpts
Meet the Author
Where can I buy it?
Similar Books
Final Thoughts
Rating
One Line Summary
This book gives a hilarious and heartwarming behind-the-scenes look into life as an NHS GP.
Where can I buy it?
Book Summary
Have you ever wondered what life as a GP is really like?
Dr Max Skittle answers this very question through a combination of humour, witty prose and genuine human experiences. He shares the highs and lows of working on the coal face of medicine, in an already stretched health system (the National Health Service) in the UK. Max recounts the highs and lows of working in general practice. He narrates stories of times where he has acted as a relationship counsellor, social worker, sex therapist, parent-figure with the occasional dewdrop of medicine thrown in for good measure. He shares his life outside of medicine and how it changed after the birth of his first son, William.
This is a fantastically wholesome and witty read for doctors and non-doctors alike!
Writing Style & Design
The Secret GP is written in a journal format, with each entry coinciding with a day in Max’s life. We share Max’s journey over the course of 12 months of working in a busy NHS practice in the United Kingdom. By far, the highlight of this book is the way in which Max is able to communicate his daily wins, hardships and frustrations in an entertaining and thought-provoking manner. The book is easy to read in short bursts and does not require long periods of concentration or high powered brain activity. Max’s down-to-earth, sarcastic personality really shines through in each journal entry.
What I Learnt from this Book:
- As a GP Registrar, I found this book very relatable and it affirmed a lot of the fears and trepidations I harbor about working in General Practice. It was nice to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way.
- You never know who (or what) is going to walk through your door on any given day! (Cliche but so true!)
- GP’s work at the coalface of medicine and are often required to wear multiple hats, including that of relationship counsellors, social workers and health advocates.
Who Should Read ‘The Secret GP’?
I would recommend this book to everyone.
Specific groups that might be interested include:
General Practitioners (GPs)
GP Registrars
Junior doctors interested in becoming a GP
Medical students
Doctors who tell their patients to “go see their GP” on discharge and wonder what really happens after the patient walks out the hospital doors
Anyone who has ever visited a GP and wonders what happens in the 15 minute consultation
Hospital doctors (especially the ones who think GP’s sit around all day drinking cups of tea…ahem)
Non-doctors
Anyone who is interested in understanding the inner workings of their GP and their workplace
Quotes & Excerpts
Max Skittle’s views on general practice (and why he loves it):
‘You see, every time a patient comes to see me, they’re holding up a window into their lives. I then have the responsibility, and the privilege, to peer into it and help make it better.’
On consulting one of his patient’s, Mrs Young, and a problem that every GP will have faced at one time or another:
‘ Her eyes met mine. I exhale in preordained acceptance. Then it comes. “The Patient Blitz”. She rushes at me with six different problems…her diabetes medications are upsetting her stomach, she’s had six weeks of constant headaches, her left ankle hurts (but only in the morning before 11am), she thinks she might be losing her memory, she’s had a rash on her groin for the last two years that she wants me to check, and finally, the piece de resistance and final nail in any GP’s coffin – she’s got all over body pain.’
Meet the Author
So I wish I could tell you who Dr Max Skittle really is…but I can’t.
Dr Max Skittle is his/her writing pseudonym. But, as ‘Max’ so rightly points out in the first chapter, his/her name is irrelevant. What really matters is the brutal honestly with which they chose to tell their story.
Where can you buy it?
Similar Books
Final Thoughts
I loved this book for the pure fact that I found it extremely relatable to my day-to-day life as a GP registrar. I could easily imagine myself in the author’s shoes, experiencing the highs and lows of working in general practice. It also expressed some hard truths about primary care worldwide – namely the constraints of time and money that every primary care physician is forced to contend with.
The second reason I loved this book was that it was bloody hilarious to read – I had multiple laugh-out-loud moments and couldn’t stop turning the pages. So if you are looking for an interesting read and good belly laugh, pick up this book!
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PS: Some of the links in this blog post are affiliate links, from which I receive a small kickback.
