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Doctor-turned-comedian Adam Kay’s verdict on health secretary: he ‘doesn’t know much’ Doctor-turned-comedian Adam Kay’s verdict on health secretary: he ‘doesn’t know much’
(17 days later)
When the newly appointed health secretary Matt Hancock tweeted a picture of his bedtime reading, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, its author, Adam Kay, was sceptical.When the newly appointed health secretary Matt Hancock tweeted a picture of his bedtime reading, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, its author, Adam Kay, was sceptical.
Hancock had described the bestselling diaries as “illuminating and pertinent” but Kay, a doctor-turned-comedian, was reserving his judgment after years of disdain for health secretaries. “Literally, any one of the 66 million people in Britain could have been appointed to secretary of state for health and it would have been an upgrade on the previous one,” he told the Observer.Hancock had described the bestselling diaries as “illuminating and pertinent” but Kay, a doctor-turned-comedian, was reserving his judgment after years of disdain for health secretaries. “Literally, any one of the 66 million people in Britain could have been appointed to secretary of state for health and it would have been an upgrade on the previous one,” he told the Observer.
No-holds-barred quips are Kay’s speciality. They have helped turn his hilarious but often harrowing memoirs of life on Britain’s hospital wards into one of this year’s biggest-selling nonfiction titles, with sales topping one million. Now Kay, 38, is about to take his trauma tales on the road, with shows up and down the country beginning next week. The book, too, is being turned into an eight-part BBC comedy drama, which Kay himself is scripting.No-holds-barred quips are Kay’s speciality. They have helped turn his hilarious but often harrowing memoirs of life on Britain’s hospital wards into one of this year’s biggest-selling nonfiction titles, with sales topping one million. Now Kay, 38, is about to take his trauma tales on the road, with shows up and down the country beginning next week. The book, too, is being turned into an eight-part BBC comedy drama, which Kay himself is scripting.
It is a huge turnaround for a man who left medicine in 2010 after a breakdown triggered, he says, by overseeing a nightmarishly complicated birth that ended tragically. “If you want to be a train driver, they’ll make you see a psychologist to check you’re going to be all right if someone jumps in front of your train, but if you want to be a doctor, there’s none of that,” he said.It is a huge turnaround for a man who left medicine in 2010 after a breakdown triggered, he says, by overseeing a nightmarishly complicated birth that ended tragically. “If you want to be a train driver, they’ll make you see a psychologist to check you’re going to be all right if someone jumps in front of your train, but if you want to be a doctor, there’s none of that,” he said.
“That old-fashioned medical approach that we’re bloody doctors and we should bloody well get on with it, a stiff upper lip, a stiff drink – that doesn’t work,” he said.“That old-fashioned medical approach that we’re bloody doctors and we should bloody well get on with it, a stiff upper lip, a stiff drink – that doesn’t work,” he said.
When Kay met Hancock for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Westminster (a meeting that Hancock requested), the health secretary found the lack of support available for doctors hard to grasp.When Kay met Hancock for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Westminster (a meeting that Hancock requested), the health secretary found the lack of support available for doctors hard to grasp.
Hancock had a working knowledge of the health sector but “didn’t know much”, Kay said. “He assumed there was a protocol if a doctor had a bad day at work, and kept asking me if I was sure there isn’t one.”Hancock had a working knowledge of the health sector but “didn’t know much”, Kay said. “He assumed there was a protocol if a doctor had a bad day at work, and kept asking me if I was sure there isn’t one.”
But he warmed to the new secretary of state more than he had to his predecessor, Jeremy Hunt. Amid acclaim for his book, he had met Hunt too, but things were frosty from the start. “I think he wanted a fun chat over a coffee but I had half a decade worth of stored-up questions I wanted to ask him, and eventually it all got a bit spiky.”But he warmed to the new secretary of state more than he had to his predecessor, Jeremy Hunt. Amid acclaim for his book, he had met Hunt too, but things were frosty from the start. “I think he wanted a fun chat over a coffee but I had half a decade worth of stored-up questions I wanted to ask him, and eventually it all got a bit spiky.”
It’s that vexation that the now influential comedian hopes to bring alive on stage, in a show entitled This Is Going to Hurt, billed as a mix of “the funny, the sad, the high octane and the revolting”.It’s that vexation that the now influential comedian hopes to bring alive on stage, in a show entitled This Is Going to Hurt, billed as a mix of “the funny, the sad, the high octane and the revolting”.
Expect anecdotes about sleep-deprived junior doctors removing objects from orifices (once, even, a set of Christmas tree lights from a vagina), but punctuated with more personal, emotionally charged recollections; Kay delivered more than 1,200 babies during his time on maternity wards.Expect anecdotes about sleep-deprived junior doctors removing objects from orifices (once, even, a set of Christmas tree lights from a vagina), but punctuated with more personal, emotionally charged recollections; Kay delivered more than 1,200 babies during his time on maternity wards.
Mixing the sad with the funny is nothing new in comedy but Kay’s real experience of hospitals gives his stories an added resonance. He is driven to tell them, he said, because he wants to push the mental health of doctors up the rankings in terms of people’s perception and awareness.Mixing the sad with the funny is nothing new in comedy but Kay’s real experience of hospitals gives his stories an added resonance. He is driven to tell them, he said, because he wants to push the mental health of doctors up the rankings in terms of people’s perception and awareness.
“We need to make sure there’s somewhere doctors can turn to when they’re burning out,” he said. “It’s a tough gig, and here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians shouldn’t be able to make decisions that negatively impact on it. The NHS is more important than politics.”“We need to make sure there’s somewhere doctors can turn to when they’re burning out,” he said. “It’s a tough gig, and here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians shouldn’t be able to make decisions that negatively impact on it. The NHS is more important than politics.”
Health policyHealth policy
The ObserverThe Observer
HealthHealth
Matt HancockMatt Hancock
ComedyComedy
Public services policyPublic services policy
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