Hospital Strike Action in the NHS depicted in new novel

“First Do No Harm” by Peter Sykes is published

About the Book:

Set against the industrial action that beset the NHS in the 1970’s, the normal healthy camaraderie of the City Hospital is lost as the dispute sets nurse against nurse and doctor against doctor. Operations are cancelled, waiting lists spiral out of control and patient’s lives are put at risk.
Nurse Kate and her husband, trainee surgeon Paul, are saddened that so many of their colleagues are prepared to become involved. Hadn’t they agreed to abide by the Hippocratic Oath with its simple message ‘First do no harm’?
The devastating effect that the disruption has on their patients causes the young couple great concern. They are desperate to avoid becoming involved in industrial action – but are destined to be drawn in against their wishes.

Excerpt from the Book:

“And what about the hours you work? My wife doesn’t have to work shifts or work through the night as you do. She’s at home every weekend with our children. She’s always free to take our daughter to Brownies or watch our ten year old son play football. She never has to work through her lunch break. She’s not expected to work for an extra hour or two ‘til the latest emergency admission is settled into the ward.”
Cleverly, he had stoked up the nurses’ sense of injustice; their anger had been aroused.
“But what can we do about it?” one of them called out. “We can’t go on strike.”
“That is exactly what the government is relying on,” Jimmy replied. “That is why they are able to ignore your claim for a fair wage; that is why the ‘gently – gently’ approach of the RCN is never going to deliver for you. The government will simply continue to ignore you in the future, just as they have done in the past.”
“So what can we do? We could never do anything that would harm our patients. That would be unthinkable.”
“You can start by letting the government know that you’re angry and that you mean business. You can make your voice heard.”

About the Author:

Peter Sykes served as a consultant surgeon for 25 years, later becoming the medical director of an NHS Trust, winning a ‘UK Medical Management Team of the Year’ award. During the final three years of his career, he was involved at a national level in the control of quality of surgical services.

Peter’s first novel The First Cut was published in 2011. It described Paul Lambert’s medical misadventures as he was thrown, bewildered and unprepared, onto a busy surgical ward as a newly qualified doctor.

This was followed in 2013 by Behind the Screens which tells real-life tales at a time when care and compassion ruled supreme in British hospitals. Some of the stories are humorous, some sad, others poignant, but all are very ‘human’. The novel also follows Paul’s chequered love life and unveils some of the ‘high jinks’ that doctors get up to when off-duty.

‘First Do No Harm’ is available in paperback from Amazon UK at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Do-Harm-Peter-Sykes/dp/1518606660

This novel can also be downloaded in e-book format from:

www.amazon.co.uk/First-Do-Harm-Peter-Sykes-ebook/dp/B016WSSF4Q

Press/Media Contact Details:

Darin Jewell
Managing Director
The Inspira Group Literary Agency
Tel. 0208 292 5163
E-mail: darin@theinspiragroup.com