The General Hospital

Dr Hannah Wright has returned to the Menzies General Hospital where she began her practical studies as a medical student. As a Psychiatry Registrar she spends her day gaining experience working in a variety of departments in the hospital. Hannah is part of the Consultation Liaison  team which she discovers, on arrival, initially in the basement of the hospital. Not that it really matters as the doctors spend most of their time working in the hospital wards.

The General Hospital by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion explores the busy life and challenges of a group of hospital staff and their patients. Cases that Hannah works with include Nova who was injured in a car accident where her husband and daughter died, Gareth who is diagnosed with a brain tumor, Max who is bi-polar and suffers from kidney failure, Junjie who suffered an injury that could destroy his aim of being a diver, Ishani who is suffering from burns to part of her body and lives in a controlling family environment, Chloe who has an eating disorder,  Meredith who has a terminal illness and Christina who is upset that the doctor who delivered her baby would not look at her birth plan before the child was born. Hannah's role is to discover the links between physical and mental health.

But Hannah's challenges are not just with the patients. She also has to contend with complicated family relationships and has also entered into a relationship with fellow Psychiatry Registrar, Alex, who has his own issues to work through.

Anne Buist is the Chair of Women's Health at the University of Melbourne. With her husband, Graeme Simsion, she has written three novels in the Menzies Mental Health series. Graeme Simsion is best known for The Rosie Project and other books in that series. Together, in The General Hospital, they have written a compassionate and often amusing account of hospital life assisting patients with mental as well as physical issues. I will now have to read the first three books in the series - The Glass House and The Oasis.