NHS doctor, journalist and comedian Phil Hammond will be bringing two comedies rolled into one show to Cornwall next week, covering subjects such as living well, staying sane, dying with dignity and saving the NHS.

In the first half, Phil ponders what we can do to sort ourselves out. He looks back on his 54 years and considers how he has apparently managed to remain sane in a family with a strong history of depression and suicide. Is he lucky, ignorant or just yet to be diagnosed? Can you prevent at least some mental illness by being kind to your mind? Phil considers deaths in his doctoring and his family - some too soon, others too drawn out - and ponders the case for both resisting and assisting suicide.

In the second half, Phil sets about saving the NHS. The service was built on love but is now run on fear, and the stressed-out staff are often sicker than the patients. Services are being starved of funds, run down and sold off. Waiting times for the mentally ill are sadistically long. The government has placed a Do Not Resuscitate order on our NHS without telling us. But it’s not too late to remove it.

Phil has had enough of top down deforms of the NHS. It’s time for a bidet revolution. From the bottom up.

Dr Phil Hammond was an NHS GP for twenty years, has worked in sexual health and now works in a specialist NHS team for young people with chronic fatigue. As a Private Eye journalist, he broke the story of the Bristol heart scandal in 1992, gave evidence to the public inquiry and was shortlisted for the Martha Gelhorn prize for investigative journalism for his Private Eye special report on the shocking treatment of NHS whistle-blowers – Shoot the Messenger (2012). He first appeared at the Fringe in 1990 as half of the junior doctor double-act Struck Off and Die, with Tony Gardner.

He has appeared on Have I Got News for You, The News Quiz, The Now Show and Question Time.

Dr Phil Hammond will be at the Acorn Arts Centre in Penzance on April 4, and The Poly in Falmouth on April 5. For information go to theacornpenzance.co.uk or call 01736 363545, or go to thepoly.org or call 01326 319461.