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Yes, Health Minister: 40 Years Inside the NHS Working for Children
 
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Yes, Health Minister: 40 Years Inside the NHS Working for Children (Hardcover)

by Sonya Leff (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Book Guild Ltd (1 Jul 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1846240158
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846240157
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.2 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,235,587 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis
This is a revealing, insider's view of the changes within the NHS during the last 40 years. Dr Sonya Leff's startling account of her experiences (in public and child health) is extremely relevant today. "Yes, Health Minister" is the story of one woman doctor's experience of the changes within the NHS from the 1960s (and the effects of the sexual revolution) to the continuing impact of the "market forces" changes (introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government). This entertaining autobiography is based on Dr Leff's clinical experiences and her personal observations on critical health issues that are still vitally important today. During her medical training in the early 60s, Dr Leff saw first-hand the misery caused by illegal abortions and the lack of access to contraception. She campaigned for "every child to be a wanted child". She pushed for a relaxation in the institutional regime in children's homes, and for every child to have equal access to education regardless of disability.

Dr Leff and her Indian husband, saw multiculturalism at its best and worst in London in the 60s, and Dr Leff became deeply involved in the education and health of black children, mixed-race adoption/fostering, inter-country adoption and the working life of ethnic minority health workers. Sonya Leff's expertise led to her becoming a policy adviser at the Department of Health itself. Many of the tenets of public and child health that we take for granted today were hard-won by people like Sonya Leff. Not only is this a fascinating autobiography, this is also a book for anyone who wants to understand more about the roots of today's NHS and health care policies.


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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars We should all be grateful that doctors like this exist, 3 Mar 2007
By Cynthia (Canada) - See all my reviews
Sonya Leff's memoir of four decades with the National Health not only gives an engaging account of how the system has developed during those years but also shows a life of energetic devotion to her patients, particularly children. Dr Leff's empathy, determination, inventiveness and humour shine through in every chapter.

"Yes, Health Minister" is not a memoir that splits off the personal from the professional, for Dr Leffs situates the history of her medical work within the context of her changing roles as friend, daughter, wife, mother, daughter-in-law, and colleague. Thus, many other fully-drawn personalities join the author on the pages of her life. At times this lively book reads like a novel-- you'll laugh, you'll cry!

Perhaps of special interest to older readers, the book offers many surprising glances into past assumptions and attitudes about matters medical and otherwise -- gender, sex education, parental roles, race, money, travel, diet, entertainment, and much more. Did we really think that way? Yes we did.. . . A lot's changed in four decades, and Dr Leffs is a most observant and thoughtful reporter.


Alhough Dr Leffs is strongly critical of some aspects of the National Health, notably its bureaucracy, as a socialist and humanist she remains committed to the principles of publicly-funded health care. Her own years as a doctor exemplify the best that such a system can bring to the people whom it serves.
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4.0 out of 5 stars an important and entertaining historical account, 11 Jun 2006
When a friend of mine passed me an advance copy of this book by a retired left-wing doctor friend, I feared it might be a collection of anecdotes and turgid accounts of NHS reorganisation and conflict with management. However I was surprised and delighted by this lively and engaging commentary on social change in Britain and the wider world, observed by a well informed political mind. The book is punctuated with a parallel interesting personal and family history. It lead me to reflect on the changes that our generation orchestrated through political action and our careers. The book lacks in depth political analysis and there is a tendancy towards repetition, but overall, recommend this jolly good read.
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