“Is there a doctor in the house?” These are the most worrying words to hear at any live event.
Thankfully, for Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor author Adam Kay, there were several hundred of them at London’s Garrick theatre on Monday, attending his show, This Is Going to Hurt — which he describes as a “love letter to the NHS”.
The comedian noticed a “kerfuffle” in the dress circle seats and halted his performance.
An audience member had collapsed, it quickly transpired, and without pausing for thought, “dozens” of off-duty NHS medical staff rushed to offer first aid.
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“As soon as the lights went on, there was a literal swarm of doctors,” Adam tells the Mirror. “It shows that when you’re a doctor you’re never off duty.
“Without stopping to think, their reaction was to get up and help, underlying my belief that my shows are the safest place in any city to have an emergency. There were probably more doctors in that room than in University College Hospital around the corner.”
Adam, a former junior doctor who has given advice about the NHS to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, adds: “Thankfully, it was fine — it turned out to be a simple faint.
“But when someone faints it is scary. The poor person was taken into the fresh air of Leicester Square and given a glass of water.
“The defining characteristics of people who work in the NHS are people who work beyond the call of duty. The system is so stretched it becomes the norm.
“The NHS is full of heroes.”
