CRITICAL PB: Why the NHS is being betrayed and how we can fight for it

Firstly, this book is exceptionally well written! Easy to read, yet keeping a thread of tension throughout, it reveals the breakdown by successive governments to break the NHS apart, it being used as a political football by the two leading parties. It exposes the utter failure by governments to properly fund it, it reveals the underhanded way that chunks of it have been sold off (privatisation) and how this has caused the funding to dwindle away so rapidly. It should be required reading by all politicians and NHS bosses from all parts of the country. The damage the current government has caused over the last 13 years is quite frankly disgusting, the unpreparedness for C19, the real term pay cuts by staff due to austerity (which wasn’t needed) and the serious lack of equipment and personnel. The scandal of the PPE contracts notwithstanding this book should serve as a severe warning about what our politicians are doing to it right NOW! Who is being paid and lobbied by privatisation firms? It’s shocking, worrying and to be honest more than a little frightening for those most vulnerable in our society! Fantastic book! Please read and pass it on to another, which is what I’m doing!

This is an excellent honest brave account of the present state of the Nhs. It explains in accurate detail how our beloved Nhs has been driven into the ground by political forces.I think everyone who uses the Nhs should read this book to gain insight into the truth from a passionate and experienced Doctor who understands the system and how it is broken.

I bought this book as I follow the author online on Twitter. Her book is an insight into her life as a doctor, driven by the desire to provide a service to us all. She then covers how she saw the inefficiency of how the pandemic was handled. It then covers why she decided to set up EveryDoctor, which enables health professionals to share their experiences, and publicises the impact of the changes being made to the NHS, which all seem to concentrate on moving public money into private companies and these have been shown to be a lot less cost effective. She offers her own solutions which include ways to retain and hire staff into the NHS. The knowledge of staff members is one of the biggest assets for the NHS.This book will show you why we need to protect our NHS and is an enjoyable read.

This is a brilliantly accessible book written by a clinically qualified and experienced professional.The NHS is being systematically and deliberately dismantled by those wielding political power who are supposed to care for and serve the public. This directly affects all staff in the NHS and current and future patients. That is all of us.This book is eloquent, practical, realistic, and slightly terrifying how much action we need to take now to save our future health service.We should all be grateful to the author for bravely facing this highly complex, multi-faceted challenge and pro-actively doing all they can to help us all.100% recommend reading this as soon as possible, and joining everyDoctor!

This book gives an insight to what the tories have done to the NHS and the systematically destruction of it .

Dr Julia Patterson's book is bizarre. Centred around an argument that the current woes of the healthcare system are down to backdoor privatisation, the book gets ensnared by its own arguments, culminating in a hardly relevant attack on Specsavers (which owes more to John Lewis for its operating model than United Health).In the good Doctor's world, hospital consultants (such as, ahem, her husband) need a big hike in pay, pensions need to be uncapped and every single piece of private sector involvement rooted out. The NHS in this book is so far removed from reality you might wonder whether she's talking about England. Dr. Patterson's NHS never makes mistakes, spends every penny wisely and always knows best. Rather like Fawlty Towers being a great hotel (if it wasn't for the guests), Critical portrays an NHS at 75 that would be the envy of the world of politicians would only splash more of your cash and patients stop bothering the service and succumb to Doctor knows best. There are other books out now (Isabel Hardman's, for example) that offer a more grown up view.

Thoroughly researched and well written expose of government dismantling of NHS in England. A vital voice for the NHS, Julia also demonstrates the power of campaigning, to shed light on Westminster government’s deliberate destruction of public services, in favour of private profit.

I like the fact of how spot on the author has the situation and how the essential information is to the point and not lost in extra unnecessary facts.

Having experienced the NHS in my childhood it was always a standout to me of what universal healthcare can be.An excellent summation of a decades long progressive deterioration of the institution as experienced by doctors to the current flashpoint situation. An emphatic call to action, to save the NHS and a warning of the importance of reducing workloads, creating more bandwidth for patient care and the need for commitment to funding of critical public services.