The azure swimming pool is perfect but for the petal of bourgainvillia drifting on its surface. You lean back on your Arteli lounger and sort through your Jacquemus for a book.
What shall it be. A thriller? Political drama? The tale of a gigantic fraud? Non-fiction? Research?
A little wisp of cloud has the temerity to interrupt the sun.
You really need a book that does it all; delights, disturbs, entertains, informs and provokes. The Swiss Army knife of literature.
An elegant, all terrain-read. If it were a car it would be the Bentley Bentayga.
There is such a book; 280 pages of fact, fiction, fraud and fabulous writing that fits the bill. I have it…
… and you must read it.
It’s a book about the NHS. Not in the genre of Holby City. Not like a report from the select committee.
It is a book like no other. It is uncomfortable to read. It is a read that will make you say… ‘really’? ‘What’! ‘Why didn’t I know that?’
You’ll ask; how did they get away with that? Is anyone going to jail?
It’s a book of irrefutable, well researched facts, referenced and indexed that will rasp yer-brain-box like chalk on a blackboard.
If you are a student of the NHS, it is as good a thesis you will ever filch.
If you are a user of the NHS and wondering ‘why’, am I waiting, ‘why’ am I not getting anywhere, ‘why’ am I stuck in the system… this is a book that will give you the unpalatable truth.
This is a book that will supercharge your miserably dull PowerPoints. Give them the kiss of life. People will sit up and take notice.
If you are a politician you will read it and wonder at what slipped through your fingers. How did it happen?
If you like a thriller, you’ll love the intrigue.
If you are an accountant, you’ll love this master class on fraud.
If you are a family person with kids who’ll need help, daughters who’ll have babies and dads with a dodgy prostate, you’ll read his and worry.
If you are interested in how policy makers are prisoners of the past and hostages to the future… this is for you.
We know the NHS is suffering… from demand, neglect, dissembling and false hope. No one person could write about it all.
That is the appeal of this book. It's not written by one person.
It’s not the work of a single mind, with all the prejudice it could bring. It is the work of a dozen experts, who know their stuff. Together, they’ve written a thriller. A romp. A ‘can’t put it down’… page turner… must read.
What is the collective noun for a group of Michael’s?
A Michaelplus?
This book is one; Michael Rosen, Michael Marmot and Michael Mansfield… are all contributors.
Add to the mix, Martin McKee, John Lister, Jacky Davis, Jan Shortt, David Wrigley, Sarah Gorton and Roger Kline...
... and you know you have a book written by people who are experts who come with an attitude.
Add to them, Lobby Akinnola, Rehana Azam, Kevin Courtney, Sarah Gorton and Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe...
... and you know, you have a full house of opinion, irrefutable fact, truth and logic.
This book looks back, over the shoulder of the NHS, and forwards, with a wide angle lens.
How we got here. What’s next?
A book written by so many could be staccato. It’s not. It could be piecemeal. It isn’t. It flows, rhythmically. A symphony of movements and mood.
It is contrapuntal. Back and forth, history and glimpses into the future. Prepares us with analysis and facts for the fight that is surely ahead.
A fight for the future of our NHS.
Promise me you will read this book. It’s not a cover-to-cover commitment. It is a dip-in, read a bit and be drawn in to the next paragraph, next chapter, next author.
This is a book for everyone working in the NHS, manager, board member, NED, patient and politician.
… and I think the concluding chapter is pretty good, too.
But, then I would...
... wouldn’t I?
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>> I'm hearing - thousands of GP trainees could face barriers to working in the UK once they qualify, unless more practices apply to become visa sponsors.
