Getting Better

by Paul Birch, Kenton Hall, Ian Haig

Against the odds and against the clock, Nye Bevan is charged with creating the world’s first national health service. At home, his marriage is as fiery as the centre-stage politics. Meanwhile, we meet the front-line medical staff and patients whose lives and limbs are at stake.

200 pages, Audible Audio

First published August 18, 2021

Reviews

[Emma Dargue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant audio drama which takes a while to get into but once you are in the story you want to keep listening. This is really helped by the way the drama is set up of half hour chunks of episodes almost like a soap opera. Loved this and really loved the characters particularly Nye Bevan and his wife Jenny Lee who were brilliant voiced by Rhod Gilbert and Neve McIntosh. I also liked the other side of the story of Eva and Reggie doctors who work in a Manchester hospital struggling to provide care for the people within their patch without the NHS. It makes me so proud to have our NHS and the good it can do when the resources are there to fund it properly. The twists about both Reggie and Eva I thought were done well on the whole. Would consume this in other ways whether on TV or in book form. This was epic.

[Sarthak Bhatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid audio drama!!

[Wit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this podcast very interesting. I had no idea about how the NHS came through in Britain.
I was more interested in the story between Dr. Calloway and Dr Hughes, tho

[Jason Arbuckle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 116 - Paul Birch, Kenton Hall, Ian Haig and Mark Hayhurst - Getting Better : The Fight for the NHS

A wonderfully uplifting tale of the beginnings of the NHS starring Rhod Gilbert as Nye Bevan and divided into ten chapters, available on Audible. I then discovered through Gilbert himself via Twitter that he wanted the role so badly because his own dad had worked with with the actual Bevan.

The tale is told from two sides…a retelling of the battle to set up the service we know and value today…alongside a fictional tale of a Doctor who is appointed to a hospital and the battles she faces…as a female doctor and an unmarried mum…

It has many punch the air moments and is fabulous as Bevan battles the Tories…still lead by Churchill…the doctors themselves along with the King’s surgeon and even his own party and its own deputy leader…Herbert Morrison…someone I had never heard of before this…which probably says more about him and the battle he loses.

It brilliantly depicts the hot headed and yet determined Bevan as the almost one man crusader, as even Clement Attlee was unsure about the ‘free for all’ services that Bevan was championing. It was so nearly watered down…so nearly lost…so nearly beaten but the determination and sheer pigheadedness of one man made the difference.

An absolute delight of a story

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rambunctious and full of drama, an interesting spin on the legends Nye Bevan and Jenny Lee.