The memoir follows the author's upbringing and early years as a trainee at St Barts then St Thomas's and Guys.Hospitals. We learn all about her career as trainee, a nurse, a midwife and ultimately the Health Visitor. There is personal info about her husband., their own financial struggles and about their two children BB and GG.

We are told "stories from the frontline" some which are downright scary, heart in the mouth moments along with sadness, poverty, happiness along with flashes of humour. You can tell that Rachael absolutely loved her career and found it very fulfilling.

She touches on everyday life and the role of the Health Visitor - having to deal with domestic abuse, neglect, mental health issues, self harm, foodbanks and endless amounts of paperwork.

I found it an interesting read.

I’d like to thank Mirror Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Handle With Care’ by Rachael Hearson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Rachael Hearson has spent forty years working in the NHS firstly as a nurse training at St Barts in London, then at St Thomas’ & Guy’s as a midwife, and finally as a health visitor where she’s been for the last thirty years. This book is her memoirs of times good and bad, funny and sad, but all of them unmissable.

‘Handle With Care’ is the autobiography of Ms Hearson who describes her years from childhood to the present day. I’ve enjoyed reading the anecdotes of her cases, some of which made me laugh out loud and others that left me with a tear in my eye. The descriptions she gives are hilarious such as using the WC in the yard with spiders waiting to pounce, and the shortcomings of a certain brand of toilet paper - I remember it all too well from past experience! She’s very candid about the difficulties her family experiences when money is non-existent and food for her children is more important than petrol. As a mother myself I’m aware of how welcome a health visitor is when help and guidance is required with a new baby but this book is an eye-opener on what else the job encompasses. On reaching the last few pages I’m amazed at how up-to-date this book is to mention the dreadful Coronavirus pandemic and what’s going on in the world. I have great respect and gratitude for the dedication of Ms Hearson and all those who work selflessly for our NHS, the best health service in the world.

"There is absolute joy and fulfilment in health visiting".

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting as I found both her personal and professional stories fascinating. The author has definitely a lot of love for her job. I agree with the other reviews that the book definitely needs more cases and more narrative in the existing cases as it tends to navigate more to an autobiography.
Nevertheless, I found the book captivating and the epilogue really satisfying, especially her commentary on the coronavirus (written in April 2020).

This wasn't what I was expecting st all. I thought it was going to be similar to Adam Kay books but it wasnt at all. Not saying it was awful just not what I was expecting. Also found it was more of an auto biography too.

I find these medical memoirs to be a bit hit and miss and unfortunately, this one really wasn't for me. Rachael has a bit about her work as a health visitor at the start before delving into her background and family history. The main draw of this book is about the work and the patients and there's actually surprisingly little of that and what there is isn't overly interesting. It doesn't come across that she cares too much about the patients and doesn't accurately portray the difficult job that health visitors do. Not for me I'm afraid.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The narrator is likeable and her style is easy to read. I would have preferred more anecdotes about her work and less about her personal life, as the book is supposed to be about the career of a health visitor. What anecdotes there were were quite brief and didn't really include any follow up or closure. I think this book would benefit from further editing to flesh out and expand upon the professional experiences and case studies. I also found the timeline slightly disjointed and it was sometimes difficult to tell where in time and space we were. I would like to read a follow up/sequel!

For over 40 years, Rachael Hearson has worked within the NHS as a nurse, first tackling the wards before moving into the realm of a health visitor. This has meant she’s been subjected to a wide range of patients, from all walks of life, as she’s invited into their homes to see their young children. She’s had a first-hand experience of the changing services the NHS provide, moving into rising cases of social care and mental health issues, as well as the shear increase in the volume of patients that now require the service. This is her insight into what’s changed through the years, as well as what hasn’t, introducing us to a few memorable cases along the way.

Although I did find parts of this really interesting to read, as I often find that the voice of health visitors is largely under heard, I found it focused too heavily on the author’s personal life – giving us essentially a journey from early childhood into her time as a nurse and beyond. Unfortunately I just didn’t find this aspect of the book all that interesting, and a lot of it could have been summarised and still provide a decent backstory of the author’s life. I was much more invested in the stories that involved her patients, but I found that quite often these were rather brief and not fleshed out enough. I think it may have been better if they had been brought into the story more, and had more narrative to them. It also would have been nice to see more diverse stories, as health visitors see should a broad range of patients and their lifestyles, and I feel this aspect of the book was underwhelming. It focuses very heavily on drug abuse and not much else.

This had a lot of potential, but fell a little short in execution. With over 40 year’s experience in the field, I was expecting some more interesting stories than what I got. However, those that I did read I thoroughly enjoyed.

I was looking forward to this book written from the viewpoint of a health visitor having not seen one from this perspective before. I tend to read most books written by nurses, doctors, midwives etc being in healthcare myself and enjoy reading different experiences and comparing and contrasting with my own. Unfortunately this one didn’t hit the mark for me. I found the writing rather chaotic and disjointed with too much focus on the authors life story rather than the job role in hand. More depth to the family backgrounds and their situations with more information from the office and experiences within the NHS would have been interesting to me.

This is non fiction at its very best. I love a medical based non fiction and this is one of the better ones I’ve read.

A really interesting view of life as a nurse, midwife and then health visitor working in the NHS. Hearson has worked in the NHS for roughly as long as I've been alive and she has seen a great many changes. I wish I'd have read this book before I had my kids so that I knew more of what a health visitor was able to help me with as a new mother.. A tale of women (and some men) trying to do their best against the backdrop of changing political parties, regulations and ever reducing funding. Recommended for all those who want to diss the NHS.

I was looking forward to reading this having enjoyed previous key worker memoirs from doctors, firefighters etc. I've also had a very mixed experience with health visitors myself so was interested in what happens behind the scenes.

Unfortunately for me this didn't deliver. The focus of the book is too heavy on her own personal life and the client stories are extremely brief and not fully explained. I felt I knew more about her cars and kids schools than why decisions about child removal were made.
It would have been interesting to hear more anonymised client experiences. Where are the disabled children, premature, post partum mental health, etc? Why were decisions made, what happened next and her feelings and perhaps errors were missing. The focus is mainly on addicts which I appreciate takes up a lot of time but it would've been good to hear more or a range.
It was also a bit repetitive in places but this might be sorted as it's an advance copy. I also felt it lacked professionalism at times with a client described as 'bat shit crazy' and some judgement of child's names.

My thanks to Netgalley and Mirror books for a copy of Handle with care by Rachel Hearson for an honest review.
I love reading books that give you an insight into the Occupations of others,, especially those in the medical field, where it is definitely a vocation and not a job
Handle with care doesn’t disappoint.!
Rachel Hearson has worked as a midwife and a health visitor .As she says ,she wants to convey the very best bits of her job as well as some of the challenges in her book.She certainly does this and shows how she, and I suppose so many in her profession , go above and beyond their job description, by helping out financially and emotionally,
It takes a special sort of person to deal with what she has seen and had to do and her humour and compassion shine through every page.
Would definitely recommend

I was keen to read handle with care as I did my registered nurse training in the eighties so could relate to the authors experiences and it certainly bought back memories for me! I found this book an interesting enlightening read particularly as the author had experienced many of the trials and tribulations that her clients had so could relate to them so much better! The difference in the service offered today compared to the past was drastic, although many of the problems such as poverty, depression and poor housing still persist today!A good interesting read that I enjoyed!
Thank you net galley for this early read.