A Bed with a View by Peter W Bennett is a poignant and thought-provoking novel that provides an intimate glimpse into life within a hospital ward. Bennett skillfully captures the raw emotions, moments of humor, and human connections that arise in such an environment, exploring themes of vulnerability, resilience, and the small acts of kindness that make a difference. The characters are realistically portrayed, each bringing their unique stories and perspectives to the narrative, which is both heartwarming and sobering. With its blend of wit, compassion, and realism, A Bed with a View is a deeply moving read that reminds us of the strength and dignity found in unexpected places.

Unfortunately, I did not love this one. The title is misleading and does not exactly provide you with stories of patients. I thought it would be a collection of crazy stories that the doctor has acquired from his patients.

I thought the voice of the author was great tho.

A Bed With A View by Peter W. Bennett chronicles his experiences with serious, chronic health problems. After 25 past surgeries, he understands how the hospital system works…or doesn’t.

Bennett’s daily hospital diaries are punctuated with pithy quotations from Oscar Wilde, W.C. Fields, Woody Allen and others and these provide a comedic break from Bennett’s frustrating hospital experience. He also alternates chapters with autobiographical detail.

The NHS system fails him for many reasons while private health care is far superior. Staffing is the main problem in the NHS as there are few experienced nurses to train newer ones and not enough to bring medicine or food at regular times. Sanitation is also a problem as Bennett must change his own bed and clean the community bathroom. A Bed With A View is an unforgiving criticism of the NHS.

Since I am an American with insurance. I can’t relate to the British NHS system. However, I can now understand the failures of NHS and see that improvement is needed. Thank you for showing this through your experiences, Mr. Bennett. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Troubadour and Peter W. Bennett or this ARC.

It was interesting to read Peter's 'A Bed with a View' but I think the title and description are slightly misleading. I could have done with more medical detail and less opinion and the revisiting '...books I have read...'. I felt that this was more a collection of individual essays rather than a personnel narrative of his experiences as a patient. Very much just personal ramblings. Sorry I gave up.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. When I originally read the synopsis, I thought we would be getting stories relating to the patient's points of views - anything from funny stories to sad stories. You get those stories, but only a few. I felt like there was a lot of time spent on the authors life and family.

I tend to gravitate towards medical books as I am a healthcare worker. I just wished that this book had more stories from the patient's point of view and less about the author and his opinions.

I was initially drawn to this book to explore Peter’s experiences having been a patient in the NHS for many years. Many of the experiences shared were very interesting and highlight previous problems and great ideas for improvement.
The book wasn’t quite what I was expecting and the cover is quite misleading as much of this explores Peter’s life, jobs and experience. This would have been more interesting exploring the many hospital admissions, but felt rather repetitive and lacked flow - however this was still an interesting read.

Thanks to Net Galley and Troubador for a copy of this book!

Not as enjoyable as I imagined. It felt like I was promised stories from a hospital bed and I expected funny, thoughtful and sad stories of what was going on around him. Unfortunately though I only got a handful of these, the rest of the book was about the author, his life, family, jobs and everything else about him and his opinions that he could squeeze into the chapters. Not what I expected at all and felt a little bit cheated out of what could have been a great view of the NHS from the patient's perspective.

Not sure what I expected from this. I enjoy books that are based in and around Hospital settings. This one sounded like it would be a little different coming from the patients perspective rather than a Dr or a Nurse.

It was an ok read, interesting in parts. Hearing the views on what the patient thought while being in hospital. his views on the NHS.

Enjoyed the first 20% of the book. Was very insightful to get a fresh perspective of a patients point of view in the hospital. Peter mixes his experience of the hospital with facts and lived experiences. He explores the ways in which NHS can improve the hospital experience. He explores the impact of short staffing and staffing international staff over reducing student fees in the UK.

However, I didnt feel like the book flowed, It felt like stories are just copied and pasted in between chapters as fillers,

"A Bed with a View" by Peter W Bennett is a thoughtful, delightful, read and a call to action for the NHS. Writing as a patient, he gives keen insight into the NHS experience. His writing is crisp, smart without being haughty, and thought-provoking. Laced with humor and empathy, it makes for an entertaining read. That entertaining aspect does not diminish Bennett's call to action for changes to the NHS. For a US reader, there is much to be learned from this book. Well worth the read. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Troubador for the opportunity to preview this book.

Thank you very much for the approval. As someone dealing with medical issues at the moment Incould highly relate to the content of this book and I find this world fascinating. I can’t wait to share more thoughts soon