Dr Shahed Yousaf

GP

Dr Shahed Yousaf is a GP who works in prisons, substance misuse and with the homeless community. He was shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Prize 2016 and commended for the Faber & Faber FAB Prize 2017. Shahed won a place on to the Writing West Midlands Room 204 Mentoring scheme and the Middle Way Mentoring Project in 2019. 

Dr Shahed Yousaf spends his time running between emergencies - from overdoses to assaults, from cell fires to suicides - with one hand perpetually hovering over the panic button. Being a prison doctor is not for the faint-hearted.  

An outsider on the inside, in Stitched Up he introduces us to a cast of unforgettable characters, including killers, con men and auto-cannibals. To Dr Yousaf, they are patients first and prisoners second - because any one of us could end up on the wrong side of the law. 

Dedicated to caring for people on the margins of society, he tells us honestly and compassionately what it's like to be their doctor in a system that's chronically overcrowded, drastically under-resourced and all too easy to ignore. But while the system is failing, he and his colleagues are doing their very best to prop it up. In stories that are frequently harrowing, sometimes humorous and always hard-hitting, we discover how difficult it is to be locked up - but that there is still hope for all those who dare to care.