A Bed with a View

Dissatisfaction with Britain’s National Health Service is widespread. Most of the debate revolves around political, organizational and administrative failings and focuses on data and statistics. In contrast to that macro-view, Peter Bennett’s book focuses on the micro- environment of daily interactions among nurses, patients, and physicians in an English hospital ward. It turns out to be a wonderful “soap opera”, hugely entertaining, with a cast of characters drawn from multiple cultures across the world interacting and “muddling through” in a dysfunctional organization. Bennett has been unusually successful in business as CEO of both a large law firm and a regional newspaper group, business consultant, and investor, and as such has come a long way from his working-class roots in Liverpool. Nevertheless, as the cliché goes, you can take the man out of Liverpool, but you cannot take Liverpool out of the man. He remains blessed with the acerbic wit and skepticism, laced with kindness and benevolence, that characterize the best of Liverpool’s authors. He is a gifted writer; incredibly effective in capturing the nonsensical, humorous, pathos, and human foibles of his characters. He is a hospital “regular” with numerous surgical operations to his credit and notes, “one of the new experiences of being in a ward with randomly selected fellow patients is to get an insight into other people’s lives, which in normal circumstances I would never have done”. He kept an hourly journal of everything going on around him, often reporting verbatim conversations. His impressions and reactions to the sometimes touching, sometimes dysfunctional, sometimes farcical, sometimes chaotic scenes that happened around him lead to ‘belly laughs’ on almost every page, but they are often tinged with a frustration and anger at the stupidity of those responsible for creating the environment that allows them to occur. The unquestionable skills of the nurses and physicians who have facilitated so many of us being able to have a quality of life free of pain and, indeed, to live for so long, compared to previous generations, is compromised by the organization’s failings. For an experienced business executive, it is ‘eye-opening’ to spend 10 days on the frontlines; another 10 days reflecting at home in recovery on what he has experienced; and see so much that clearly would lead to the demise of a business if it occurred in a competitive marketplace. Those of us who can perhaps match Bennett’s attendance record in multiple hospital visits will recognize all the scenes in this soap opera, but we would never have been able to recreate the context with the authenticity Bennett provides. After investing the four hours it takes to read this book, readers will be pleased they made the effort. This is the rare volume that both entertains and educates.

I loved this book! It is funny yet profound. He goes from wishing for help, he wished to help others. He is wise yet daft! There is a great mix of qualities and contrasts. In the darkest of times Bennett stays strong and finds a new sense of purpose. A new driving force. He has the gifts to realise & articulate/describe the reality of dire situation in a way that which will make people think. What a journey!