What really goes on "behind the screens" of a busy hospital ward?
The heroes of the novel are Paul Lambert and his girl friend Kate Meredith.
Paul, a quiet and introspective young doctor, tells the real-life tales of some of his patients, at a time 40 years ago when care and compassion ruled supreme. Kate is a nurse who learns more about patient care when she is admitted as a patient to her own ward than she does from all her nursing tutors and text books! Some stories are humorous, some sad, others poignant, but all are very "human". There is the tale of the wife who becomes pregnant two years after her husband’s vasectomy, the milkman’s tattoo that was mischievously altered whilst he was anesthetized and the case of the elderly spinster who brought her pregnant cat to the emergency department!
These stories explore many facets of hospital life; the sense of care that existed within healthcare at this time, the anxiety experienced when treating a fellow human being, the pain felt when patient outcomes are unfavorable and the chronic tiredness resulting from long hours on duty, It becomes clear that humor and compassion make wonderful medicine.
