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The Cure for Good Intentions is about a life-changing decision. Sophie Harrison left her job as an editor at a prestigious literary magazine, and put herself through medical school and hospital training before eventually becoming a GP.

From peaceful office days spent writing tactful comments on manuscripts, she entered a world that spoke an entirely different language. The scenes were familiar from television and books – long corridors, busy wards, stern consultants, anxious patients – but what was her part in it all? Back in the community as a new GP, the question became ever more pressing.

This is a book about how a doctor is made. Sophie asks what a doctor does, and what a doctor is. What signifies a doctor? A bedside manner? A mode of dress? A stethoscope? A firm way with a prescription pad? What is empathy and what does it achieve? How do we deal with pain, our own and other people’s?

After leaving journalism for medicine, Sophie discovers there are a surprising number of skills that can be used in both professions. She offers useful insights into how challenging it can be for doctors to interpret the public. And her background also gives her a literary appreciation - she refers to medicine in literature and contrasts it with her own experiences.

In Episode 5, Sophie deals briefly with the Covid pandemic, and examines pain and how best to describe and assess it. Finally, and with energy and hope, she sums up what she has learned going through her medical training and emerging into the doctor’s world.

Read by Tamsin Greig
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Produced by Pippa Vaughan
A Loftus Media production for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4

Photo © Onur Pinar