Next Patient Please

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Next Patient Please

A GP Remembers

Category:	Fiction
Author:	Terence G. Skinner
Publisher:	Melrose Books
Price:	£9.99
ISBN:	978-906050-269
Pages:	72
Reviewed in issue:	9

Those who don the white coat and stethoscope and those who hold themselves under the Hippocratic oath’s benevolent shadow deserve our respect. They see so much and have many stories to tell. Dr. Skinner’s stories are punctuated by photos and the occasional sketch, and our narrator graces the cover, inviting us in.

What lets this book down is the design. The cover is dull, tired and plain. Some of the tales lead the reader up back alleys and towards dead ends and, sometimes, the funny anecdotes fall on deaf ears.

Dr. Skinner writes well with occasional touches of flair, but these true tales do not sit well together. The reader’s emotions are toyed with at the turn of each page as a story about the rescue of a baby bird gives way to the story of a boy accidentally splitting an artery. Those looking for a hard-hitting expose of the life of a GP will be frustrated by ditties about small birds and cake tins whilst those looking for a light, refreshing volume of amusing anecdotes will be frustrated by the blood, the guts and the grime. This book would make an excellent memento for family and friends of the doctor but it struggles to capture a general audience.

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