This is going to hurt

I’ll start with a disclaimer, because most of the commentary on twitter is positive about the above I feel like I might be perceived as “having a go.” Which is why I’m writing here to explain some nuance that can’t be generated in 280 characters.

I am white, male and middle class. I understand the privilege this has afforded me. I am not aiming to gaslight anybody else’s feelings or how they perceived their training. I have different experiences and therefore have different views.

Also I left the NHS in 2010 and currently work in Australia and have dodged the pandemic bullet in a big way. I went to university and trained in Wales. I have been a consultant for 14 years so I could be considered out of touch when it comes to training…

My wife (a Physio) very much likes the show. I stopped after two episodes. I’ve read the book and I didn’t rate that either. She makes two good points. One, that the series portrays a fire fighting mess of a medical system where patients are constantly at risk. Which if you’re a patient watching may be a bit disconcerting. I’m assuming, of course, that the public know that the series is based on real life experiences…Two that it shows us that doctors are – human. The public may place doctors on a pedestal and this series shows that we are fallible and that we fail and that we feel and that medicine can be hard. That bit is at least true.

As has been pointed out it doesn’t shy away from themes in medicine that are still prevalent and still not properly addressed, I don’t argue with that.

So what do I think? I think that the doctors on Twitter who are saying they resonate with the show have had to deal with the shitty side of medicine. We all recognise the examples in the series of egregious behaviour. What you’re not hearing on twitter is what I experienced. (Except from Dr Bruce Powell who was as forthright as one would expect!)

And that begs the question why? Well because of my privileged experience I feel that I will be eviscerated for highlighting exactly that I’m a product of a system that is racist, ableist, misogynistic, classist and the all the other “ists” and I’m a product of that so I should shut up…

Next I understand that the series is “drama” that it’s not real, that it’s supposed to be black humour.

But for me it’s not humorous it’s just dark and not necessarily in a good way. Perhaps I should have watched all the episodes to see how it unfolds. And I get that if we watched ER as it actually is, it would be boring as batshit. So yes the drama has to cram all the “stuff” in to keep the audience engaged.

But it crams nothing but sarcasm and acerbity. It paints a pastiche of a consultant in an Aston Martin. It paints patients as miserable, rude and ignorant. The midwives are smart arsed, mean and unsupportive.

It does a disservice to all the good people. And for that reason I couldn’t abide it. We all know that there are a minority of arseholes who make the rest of us look bad, that they create all the misery and all the work. My feeling is that the number of arsehole consultants is decreasing but surveys on bullying sadly don’t really support that. But this series makes everyone the arsehole and that’s simply not true.

My medical training involved me crying in offices, doing 100+ hour weeks, being bullied once, making mistakes, being pulled into offices and told I talk too much, not being supported, being too young and inexperienced to do a good job. But I chose a specialty that is supportive and consultant led and my training has been ok. My exams were ok. Living away from my pregnant wife for a year was ok. (She wasn’t pregnant for a year 🙄). The people were ok…

And yes I met consultants who were arseholes, and nursing staff who were arseholes and midwives who were arseholes and patients who were arseholes. And I have no doubt I was an arsehole. But that wasn’t my whole experience…

So that’s what I think…