This thought-provoking book exposes and challenges the hidden assumptions of modern medicine: the body is a kind of machine; symptoms must be caused by disease; health depends on healthcare; prevention is better than cure; things that can be measured are more real than others; how we see things is how they are; relationships are peripheral to medical care; proper doctors just keep going. It encourages readers to reconsider how they think about health and the wider healthcare system, and how to look after patients, themselves and each other as clinicians.

Recognising that many of the problems in the NHS and other healthcare systems are complex and not just due to overwhelming demand or staff shortage, the articles in this collection draw attention to the gap between our understanding of these issues and our everyday experience. Using vivid analogies and colourful characters, the author invites readers to fit the pieces together and look at the bigger picture that emerges.

The book is intended as a tonic for clinically active GPs in training and beyond who deal with the consequences of small picture thinking on a daily basis. It will also be of interest to GP trainers, including course organisers and those involved in curriculum development, and other primary care health professionals and administrators.