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Preview
  • Your Life in My Hands

  • A Junior Doctor's Story
  • By: Rachel Clarke
  • Narrated by: Cassie Layton
  • Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (245 ratings)

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Your Life in My Hands

By: Rachel Clarke
Narrated by: Cassie Layton
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Summary

These are the extraordinary realities of the NHS front line. From the historic junior doctor strikes to the 'humanitarian crisis' declared by the Red Cross, the overstretched health service is on the precipice.

This is a powerful polemic on its systematic degradation and a letter of optimism to that same health service and those who support it. It captures with tenderness a new doctor's experiences of an NHS at breaking point.

©2017 Rachel Clarke (P)2017 W. F. Howes Ltd
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Critic reviews

"There have been many books written by young doctors...but none comes close to Clarke's." ( Sunday Times)
"From the very heart of the NHS comes this brilliant insight into the continuing crisis in the health service. Rachel Clarke writes as the accomplished journalist she once was and as the leading junior doctor she now is - writing with humanity and compassion that at times reduced me to tears." (Jon Snow, Channel 4 News)
"A powerful account of life on the NHS frontline. If only Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt could see the passion behind the people in the NHS, they might stop treating them as the enemy, and understand that without them we don't have an NHS worth the name." (Alastair Campbell)

What listeners say about Your Life in My Hands

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Makes you want to smile, makes you want to cry.

An excellent, well written and well read book that at times was a real eye opener into the failings within the NHS that we take for granted.
At times this book brought a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye, and at other times brought a huge smile to my face.
'Your life in my hands' really makes you appreciate the dedication and commitment of the junior doctors in service within the NHS, even though they are forced to work ridiculous hours, are constantly fighting against governmental cutbacks, red tape and astounding bureaucracy they keep battling through.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Was over journalistic and political for me

Expected more stories of patients and how the juniors coped, it was rather more a political rant against the government, not saying that's not needed but it just wasn't what the book seemed to be about in the description.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Thank you for the raw truth.

Both books by Rachel Clarke are very heart felt and deal with a verity of issues scarcely discus before. Personally, I admire this and having been at the mercy of the NHS before I know things can go wrong. However, the human touch of the nurses mean more then most will ever comprehend.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

True reflection of the NHS

Excellent audiobook on an NHS doctors story of the struggles of sustainability of the NHS

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

I couldn't stop listening. Wonderfully touching and terrifying all at the same time. A brilliant book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant account by a brilliant witness

We need to fund the NHS better and this book explains why.

The content is great, but the performance could have done with someone to proof-listen to it. Mispronounced words, incomprehensible intonation - not too bad but not perfect.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent listen

A thought provoking, well articulated and fascinating account of what is happening to the NHS

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Essential listening for anyone who cares about our Health Service

Heartfelt, heartbreaking, beautifully written yet brutally honest portrayal of a national health service in crisis, and the imperfect but committed doctors trying to keep it working.

Brilliantly narrated this is a must listen for anyone who wants to understand the real and complex issues behind the sound bites which dominate the headlines about the NHS. This is also a moving story of a doctor’s struggle to reconcile her love for her profession with the immense mental, physical and emotional strain of having to battle not only the diseases which afflict her patients, but government spin and chronic underfunding.

Will make you grateful and angry, concerned about the future yet hopeful that people like Rachel Clarke are still fighting for the NHS which underpins our nation.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly informative

Although I follow the political scene very closely and in particular the social policies “Your Life In My Hands “ was a real eye opener.
Brian

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Exposing UK gov idiocy, literally costing lives

This book was compelling, and Clarke points out the inconsistencies, the cognitive dissonance, and the incompetency that had driven the NHS into a crisis situation. If you can stomach the official government lines after reading this book, it would be a miracle. I want to give this book to every person I know.

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