Dedicated NHS staff who will be on duty on Christmas Day

Christmas Day may bring many services to a standstill, but for the NHS it’s a day like any other. It may be “part of what you sign up for” when you decide to work in a healthcare job, but the work you do is more precious than ever on December 25th.

As always, we appreciate the work they do throughout the year, but even more so at this time of year for going above and beyond for patients and colleagues. Here, we have outlined a small selection of employees who will be working on Christmas Day.

You can sign up for our newsletter for the latest health stories here.

READ MORE: Britons are reported to have been struck by a mysterious illness after Christmas parties

READ MORE: The luxury hotel in Wales where Josie Gibson is spending Christmas

Maria Mallord and Chris Detton

Not everyone who works on Christmas Day gets to spend the day with their family, but mother and son ambulance team Maria Mallord and Chris Detton will be there. They are believed to be the only mother and son ambulance team in Wales.

The pair, based at Rhyl’s ambulance station, are both emergency ambulance attendants. They will spend the day together as a Boxing Day celebration with family. “I finish work at 8pm so after a long day it’s probably a bath, relax and bed for me. Boxing Day Chris and our family get together to celebrate our Christmas, enjoy a meal and open our presents.”

Maria, 56, said: “It may not be the most traditional way of celebrating Christmas, but we are lucky to be able to work as a family and spend Christmas together. We even get Christmas dinner.”

Although the winter season comes with its busy challenges, Christmas Day can also be special. Chris, 40, explained: “Despite the challenges of working in a busy hospital environment on Christmas Day, it’s just as busy as any other day, but the atmosphere is different – the crew, patients and hospital staff are all in the Christmas spirit. He can take patients to different hospitals, but it always feels special when we bring patients home on Christmas Day.”

As Maria explains, they have chosen to work together for the day, adding: “All the crew have to do their part at Christmas and we have chosen to work on Christmas Day. We will enjoy the day, help others and have the opportunity to spend time together.”

Sian Kelly

Sian Kelly works as a senior intensive care nurse at the University Hospital of Wales. Responsible for patients with complex care needs and patients on long-term ventilation. As a “Zune Leader” it is her job to care for and meet the needs of patients, family members and colleagues.

“Because patients on the unit can have life-changing injuries, I try to help them have the best quality of life possible. Patients have the opportunity to leave the unit with their family or staff to the ward or the lake, to benefit from seeing different sites and people.’ On Christmas Day, Sian hopes to bring a little cheer to the day by dressing up as an elf as she takes patients to the UHW site. He will also hold a festive quiz, raffle and encourage everyone to participate.

“Every year I dress up as something different,” she added. “On Christmas day, it’s very nice to have families come and spend time with the patients. In the long-term ventilation unit we will have some sing-songs, games and everyone interacting within their limits. My colleagues are also very helpful in organizing all this.’

To top it off, Sian is helping to host a Christmas ‘afternoon tea’ on 25th December, which will feature a special mocktail hour. She added: “After my shift I’ll be celebrating Christmas with my husband and two cats. I’ll be Facetimeing my children and grandchildren and then planning a family get-together on Boxing Day.” You can support award-winning journalism with WalesOnline’s Premium app Apple or android

Ellie Jones and Georgia Coombes

Ellie Jones is a psychiatric nurse in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg area. The 27-year-old will spend every fourth Christmas at work. He said that, as healthcare workers, it was something you signed up for at work and that all staff used their initiative to make the day special for patients, but also to make arrangements to manage situations if some patients did not want to. to go up to the festivities.

“Some people may not feel in the Christmas spirit, others really love Christmas, you work to meet their needs.”

Ellie starts the day at home with her family before going to work. He explained: “We try to split the shifts as evenly as possible. On Christmas Day we split the shift in half so I start work at 1 and finish at 7. Luckily my family has agreed that we will have Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we will open presents and probably have leftovers I’ll take an existing dinner to work with me. When I get home at seven-thirty we’ll probably have a cool evening.”

“We do fundraisers throughout the year, we had a bake sale where the patients were the judges. We do raffles throughout the year. We try to raise money so we can buy patients a little present on Christmas Day to open and get nice. Christmas food. Some people might not they will feel in the Christmas spirit, some really love Christmas, you work to meet their needs. When you work in healthcare you sign up knowing that Christmas is part of it. The staff there are very positive, last year a HCA dressed up as Santa and was handing out chocolates . Small moments like these can make a difference.”

Georgia is also a psychiatric nurse and works on the same team as Ellie. The working day will start at 07:00. This is his third year working on Christmas Day and it’s something he always enjoys and looks forward to. The 24-year-old said: “It’s usually a pretty good day, pretty nice. Patients wake up as and when they want and we have songs, gifts, a nice breakfast.’

He explained that the staff always try to make the day a special day for those in the hospital. “Nobody wants to be in the hospital on Christmas Day, so it’s nice to give the patients something a little different from other days. It’s nice to have something going on to make them feel more at home. We all wear Christmas jumpers or elf hats or reindeer antlers, it’s a bit of fun.”

Georgia will spend the first part of the afternoon having Christmas dinner with the patients before heading home at 1pm to spend the day visiting her family.