A DOCTOR-IN-TRAINING from Rugby is publishing his own novel based on his time working in the NHS.
Jamie Brindle, a trainee GP, has written the book using his own experiences and stories – with fictional characters but with personality traits based on his colleagues.
Speaking to the Observer, Jamie said he started writing the book, Presenting Complaints, to get away from the stress that his job created.
He said: “Initially, it was survival, almost a kind of therapy. I found being a junior doctor very, very stressful. Not that I hated it – in fact, it was stimulating, rewarding, and extremely interesting – but it was also incredibly stressful.
“I got into a bit of a bad way, lots of stress, not sleeping, increasingly anxious. I ended up going off sick for a few months, and tried various things to get back to work. One of the things that helped was getting stuff out onto the page.”
He describes Presenting Complaints as a light and silly satirical look at the NHS and its move towards privatisation. And although entirely fictional, it is “much closer to the truth than you might imagine”.
He added: “I think the NHS is wonderful, I completely love it and I think we are so lucky to have it; so the book pokes fun at the NHS, but I also think the message that runs through it – and especially at the end – is that the NHS is a wonderful thing, and that we need to do all we can to protect it.”
Jamie met his wife during his time in the NHS while working together on the stroke ward at Warwick Hospital in 2011.
He is in the process of trying to get the novel crowdfunded on a website called Inkshares, and has decided to donate half the profits to a charity which supports those living with Cystic Fibrosis – including his two-month old son, Ben – who has been supported by University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Visit www.inkshares.com/projects/presenting-complaints-8678 to find out more.
