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SENIORS SMILING: Sometimes Seriously
Medical Memoir - Wit and Humour - Doctors and Medicine - Tales from the NHS - Bite sized Medical History
A rare feast of medical humour, warm witty and entertaining - written with empathy and clinical insight
'We laugh with our patients not at them'
Medical interactions reflect the rich individual mannerisms, quirks and foibles of professionals and their patients. Those on the receiving end of medical advice, prefer clinicians as human and natural. Capable and proficient, yet willing and able to deliver services with a smile. In medical practice, the emotional pendulum can oscillate rapidly between deadly serious, deeply moving and the poignant, at times spilling into the irresistibly funny or frankly comic. We laugh with, not at, each other. Older patients – the seniors – provide brilliant moments of insight, intended, half intended, sometimes entirely unintended. Humour has plenty of scope for misunderstandings, but for most is a welcome, sometimes inspirational tool for psychological survival, capable of lifting the mood and lightening the load, in darker moments. This small and personal collection draws on forty years of observations as an NHS consultant and the rich variety of personalities, colleagues, patients, characters and situations that I have been privileged to encounter. Intended to raise smiles, but with an eye to that serious edge, that is an integral part of the many manifestations of medical humour. Rooted in real life experience, it aims not to identify individual patients or staff, but many colleagues will resonate with some of the clinical scenarios. Liverpool Domiciliary Drama
Professionally rewarding and invariably interesting, the two thousand domiciliary visits I carried out to patients in their own homes of could also surprise.
The two sentries standing guard at the front door, both wielding baseball bats, smiled as they greeted me before escorting me past half a dozen family members braced for 'visitors' during a long running family feud ...
Royal Marines can do anything
The two therapists froze as she saw the noose swinging slowly in the hallway. Heart rates rising, as urgent signals from a recent 'caring for the carers' course flashed through their increasingly agitated brains. But surely not ...
Not quite himself in Everton
I mulled over the general practitioner’s sparse but intriguing referral information – agitated, disturbed behaviour and a pain in the right shoulder. “He seemed a bit upset, smashed up some of the furniture and then threw his television set through the window without even bothering to open it”.
Corkscrew Charlie and the birth pangs of the National Health Service
New Health Minister Aneurin Bevan from the Welsh valleys was radical and fiery. The silver tongued orator forged a powerful if surprising alliance with the leader of the hospital consultants, Lord Moran (Dr Charles Wilson), President of the Royal College of Physicians, Dean of St Marys Hospital Medical School and personal physician to wartime Prime Minister Churchill ...
Follow the science with Spotty and Dotty
Mathematical modelling and statistical predictions can go awry
Colon Calling
Prepped, primed and battle ready for the full fibreoptic experience, the little band of day-case patients gathered in the foyer of the endoscopy suite ...
Wind in the Pillows
Dietary change for Charlie's irritable bowel syndrome involved a huge increase in dietary fibre intake. Beneficial in calming and slowing his hyperactive colon but less welcome was the associated increase in gas production. In fact, Charlie could produce prodigious volumes of flatus, sometimes musical in character. Best friend Zak suggested he could enter the Guinness book of records.
A rare feast of medical humour, warm witty and entertaining - written with empathy and clinical insight
'We laugh with our patients not at them'
Medical interactions reflect the rich individual mannerisms, quirks and foibles of professionals and their patients. Those on the receiving end of medical advice, prefer clinicians as human and natural. Capable and proficient, yet willing and able to deliver services with a smile. In medical practice, the emotional pendulum can oscillate rapidly between deadly serious, deeply moving and the poignant, at times spilling into the irresistibly funny or frankly comic. We laugh with, not at, each other. Older patients – the seniors – provide brilliant moments of insight, intended, half intended, sometimes entirely unintended. Humour has plenty of scope for misunderstandings, but for most is a welcome, sometimes inspirational tool for psychological survival, capable of lifting the mood and lightening the load, in darker moments. This small and personal collection draws on forty years of observations as an NHS consultant and the rich variety of personalities, colleagues, patients, characters and situations that I have been privileged to encounter. Intended to raise smiles, but with an eye to that serious edge, that is an integral part of the many manifestations of medical humour. Rooted in real life experience, it aims not to identify individual patients or staff, but many colleagues will resonate with some of the clinical scenarios. Liverpool Domiciliary Drama
Professionally rewarding and invariably interesting, the two thousand domiciliary visits I carried out to patients in their own homes of could also surprise.
The two sentries standing guard at the front door, both wielding baseball bats, smiled as they greeted me before escorting me past half a dozen family members braced for 'visitors' during a long running family feud ...
Royal Marines can do anything
The two therapists froze as she saw the noose swinging slowly in the hallway. Heart rates rising, as urgent signals from a recent 'caring for the carers' course flashed through their increasingly agitated brains. But surely not ...
Not quite himself in Everton
I mulled over the general practitioner’s sparse but intriguing referral information – agitated, disturbed behaviour and a pain in the right shoulder. “He seemed a bit upset, smashed up some of the furniture and then threw his television set through the window without even bothering to open it”.
Corkscrew Charlie and the birth pangs of the National Health Service
New Health Minister Aneurin Bevan from the Welsh valleys was radical and fiery. The silver tongued orator forged a powerful if surprising alliance with the leader of the hospital consultants, Lord Moran (Dr Charles Wilson), President of the Royal College of Physicians, Dean of St Marys Hospital Medical School and personal physician to wartime Prime Minister Churchill ...
Follow the science with Spotty and Dotty
Mathematical modelling and statistical predictions can go awry
Colon Calling
Prepped, primed and battle ready for the full fibreoptic experience, the little band of day-case patients gathered in the foyer of the endoscopy suite ...
Wind in the Pillows
Dietary change for Charlie's irritable bowel syndrome involved a huge increase in dietary fibre intake. Beneficial in calming and slowing his hyperactive colon but less welcome was the associated increase in gas production. In fact, Charlie could produce prodigious volumes of flatus, sometimes musical in character. Best friend Zak suggested he could enter the Guinness book of records.
86 pages, Paperback
Published August 19, 2021
About the author
John Turner
308 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 30, 2021
A witty, warm and genuinely funny collection of fascinating stories based on the experiences of an NHS A witty, warm and genuinely funny collection of fascinating stories based on the experiences of an NHS Doctor
This is a rich collection of highly entertaining first-hand anecdotes and stories written from the heart. The book draws on over 40 years of NHS experience and contains some hilarious descriptions of doctor patient encounters all beautifully written with affection and charm.
Seniors Smiling examines human life in all its forms and successfully looks at ageing and illness with a human, sometimes wry often extremely funny perspective. Liverpool memories in particular are especially smile inducing .
This is a terrific read for anyone with a sense of humour and an interest in the human form and doctor patient relationships. It also provides a unique insight into Britain’s social history. Definitely a must- read . Highly recommend!
This is a rich collection of highly entertaining first-hand anecdotes and stories written from the heart. The book draws on over 40 years of NHS experience and contains some hilarious descriptions of doctor patient encounters all beautifully written with affection and charm.
Seniors Smiling examines human life in all its forms and successfully looks at ageing and illness with a human, sometimes wry often extremely funny perspective. Liverpool memories in particular are especially smile inducing .
This is a terrific read for anyone with a sense of humour and an interest in the human form and doctor patient relationships. It also provides a unique insight into Britain’s social history. Definitely a must- read . Highly recommend!
December 2, 2021
"Tell John I never laughed so much in so long in reading his book - I read the whole book in one go laughing so much on each page - I want to read it again. I'm now phoning Pritchards Bookshop in Crosby to order more copies for my friends. Our world needs to read John Turner's book".
Mrs Helena Alder
Shrewsbury
November 2021
Mrs Helena Alder
Shrewsbury
November 2021
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews