Phil Whitaker – författare

Big Issue in the North Summer Reading RecommendationA man boards a train, hoping to see the daughter he has heard nothing from for seven years. As he travels towards his destination, he restlessly revisits the events that blew apart their seemingly perfect world.With acute insight, sparkling imagination, and vividly arresting prose, Phil Whitaker explores the very best and worst that families can do, and asks: what are the forces that shape us; and, against powerful traumas reverberating down the generations, can true love prevail?

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: POPULAR SCIENCEWhat Is a Doctor? is a vital contribution to the ongoing debate about how we maintain an NHS that is both fit for purpose and free. Using stories and case studies from across his thirty-year career as a GP, Dr Phil Whitaker offers insight into the medical movements, political interference and societal changes that have transformed the role of doctor over the past three decades.Much has altered for the better but, even when based on good intentions, an equal or greater amount has been damaging and threatens the sustainability of the NHS. In examining what it means to be a doctor today, this book also answers an accompanying question 'what is a patient?' - and how we can all take a more active role in our healthcare. And, looking forward, Dr Whitaker describes what might yet be done to restore the NHS and its capacity for properly patient-centred care.