For most people, Christmas Day is spent with family and friends, unwrapping presents in sparkly jumpers and overindulging on festive food. However, December 25 can look very different for the NHS and social care staff on duty helping those in need.
So while you’re tucking into your turkey with all the trimmings this Sunday, please spare a thought for all those on the frontline looking after the most sick, injured and vulnerable in society. Here, we have profiled a small selection of staff who will be working on Christmas Day and asked them how they will make the day extra special.
Donna Hall
Donna is a midwife at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend. She will be starting the afternoon shift at 1pm along with other midwives and healthcare colleagues.
“I love working Christmas Day. It’s always such a good atmosphere on the ward,” she said. “For mothers who are currently in hospital, or any who have suddenly gone into labour, we try to make it as festive as we can for them which makes our day that little bit more entertaining and hopefully a little better for the mothers who aren’t at home with their families.
“The ward is decorated with Christmas decorations. The mothers who wake up in hospital on Christmas Day will receive presents at the end of their bed to wake up to, along with a Christmas dinner for lunch. Us midwives, nurses and healthcare workers will try and dress a little more festive to get the mothers feeling Christmassy for their first Christmas with their babies. There are ladies who knit us some Christmas hats for when our Christmas babies are born. It is always so exciting and creates such a wonderful atmosphere on the ward, we love it.
“I have been a midwife since I was 18 – working Christmas Day to me is a part of my Christmas Day celebrations. I would miss it if I didn’t work it. As a family, there are many of us who work in healthcare and have had to revolve Christmas around our shifts for years. We maybe celebrate on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day, it depends how our work patterns fall, but we make sure to celebrate with each other, but just maybe on a different day.
“With restrictions being better this year we look forward to having some families being able to visit, adding to that Christmas family feeling.”
Leah Ghaddar
Dedicated care worker Leah Ghaddar has been described as a “Christmas heroine” after volunteering to work on Christmas Day for the sixth year running. The 24-year-old clinical care practitioner said she loves her job at Pendine Park’s Bryn Seiont Newydd care home in Caernarfon and is looking forward to welcoming back family members for the first Christmas since the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were completely removed.
According to Leah, there’s a special atmosphere at the home during the festive season, adding that she’s looking forward to being on duty on the day – something she’s done every year since she started working there in 2016. She said: “I’ll be here, wearing my Christmas jumper with the other care staff. There are always Christmas carols which we all love to sing, and the residents will join in.
“I’m absolutely looking forward to it. A typical day at Bryn Seiont Newydd is always busy, fun and extremely rewarding. No two days are ever the same.”
(Image: Mandy Jones)
Leah said the atmosphere at Bryn Seiont Newydd is always lovely but it “steps up a gear” at Christmas. “All the staff work really hard to make it special for the residents. We decorate the lounges and the corridors and the foyer and there are lots of lights, lots of cards and of course a tree.
“And Christmas brings out the residents’ personalities too. They share their recollections of how they spent their Christmases in years gone by and how it is different now to when they were perhaps my age. Those stories are always nice to hear.”
Leah will start work on Christmas Day at 7.30am and her first task will be to help the residents with their morning routine. “I’ll take over from the night staff when the residents will be getting up around that time and they’ll have their breakfast and we’ll put them in their Christmas outfits. It’s going to be a fun morning. Then we’ll have a three course Christmas lunch of turkey and all the trimmings and crackers,” she said
At the end of her shift, she will head off home for Christmas lunch at about 2.30pm and will spend the rest of the day with her mum, Yvonne, and her brother, Marc. Leah’s older sister Yasmin now lives in Cardiff but she will also be joining the family in Caernarfon this Christmas. “We’ll have a late lunch then open our presents and have a few drinks and play a few games,” she said.
Leah will enjoy a day off on Boxing Day but will be back at Bryn Seiont Newydd on December 27. “It’s a job that never ends but I’m not working on New Year’s Eve,” she added.
Susan Griffiths
Susan Griffiths has been a community staff nurse in Tywyn, Gwynedd, for more than six years. She said she loves looking after patients in their own homes and meeting their families. As community nurses often care for people for extended periods, they get to know them and their families and build rapport, enabling them to provide effective holistic nursing care.
“I enjoyed working Christmas Day in the past in hospitals as everyone made a special effort to be happy and enjoy themselves,” she said. “Working Christmas Day this year I am proud to be able to support patients providing nursing care in their home surrounded by their families.
“It is often a difficult time for many of our patients due to their medical conditions. If I can help to alleviate a patient’s concerns by supporting them with their nursing needs to remain at home this will be very rewarding. I am sure everyone will be glad to see me on Christmas Day and grateful for the care and support we are able to provide as a service.”
Rebecca and Richard Griffiths
Brother and sister Rebecca and Richard Griffiths both work as domestic assistants at Ysbyty Gwynedd. Richard joined Aran Ward at the beginning of the year after working on wards dedicated to caring for Covid patients during the pandemic.
“I really enjoy my job,” he said. “I have a great group of colleagues on Aran and outside of my normal duties I like to help where I can by chatting to the patients. I have worked quite a few Christmas Days as I previously worked within the Catering team at Ysbyty Eryri in Caernarfon. I’m looking forward to being on shift and spending the day with my colleagues and the patients – there should be a really nice atmosphere.”
Rebecca has worked on Ogwen Ward for just over two years and said she is looking forward to making sure the patients on her ward have a special Christmas Day. She said: “I am passionate about making sure my ward is always clean and tidy for my patients. It’s a great ward to work on and my colleagues are so lovely.
“I always enjoy making our patients laugh – laughter is the best medicine. It’s always important to keep the patients upbeat as no one wants to be in hospital so I’m going to do my best to keep everyone happy and cheery on Christmas Day.”
Cathy Carr
Cathy Carr is a healthcare assistant working for Marie Curie on its newly-formed dementia respite service in Swansea Bay. She also supports across the Hywel Dda dementia service. She described working on Christmas Day as a “delight”.
She began at the end-of-life care charity in September and has also supported on the charity’s at home nursing service which provides hands on care to dying people and their loved ones.
“My parents both died nearly 10 years ago, I have no siblings or children and relatives live in another country,” said Cathy, adding that she’s not a big party person nor does she follow a particular faith, so she’d rather people who do have families, or just want the time off, to be able to have it.
“Quite simply I enjoy working at Christmas. It is a delight and a privilege to get to share some of their Christmas with other people. Sadly, illness or poor health has no interest or respect for festive periods.
“I can’t make people better from their illnesses – I wish I could – but if I can leave them clean and settled as much as possible. A big part of this job is providing support – practical, but just as important emotional – to the families involved. I find it so very rewarding to be part of this most private and intimate time in people’s lives. It is a privilege.”
Rebecca Cann
For the Wales Air Ambulance, Christmas is very much a “normal day” at work, but with an extra bit of festive sparkle and camaraderie. Rebecca Cann, critical care allocator, said spending the day with her colleagues is like being with a second family.
“We are with a family although it might not be our family at home,” she said. “Our work family is like a family, and we are there to make sure that the day becomes the best day it can for everybody and help people where we are able to.
“Working Christmas Day is like any other day. We have to be alert and on top form every day of the year and hopefully, by us being there, we can turn what might be the worst day of somebody’s life into a better outcome.”
She added: “The Christmas period can be a busy time for us. There are lots of celebrations ongoing, lots of people riding bikes that they haven’t ridden before and falling off them, so please celebrate but please be safe.”
Rebecca said she is celebrated Christmas on December 19 this year when she was off. “It was much to my children’s delight as they got to open their presents a week early. It is something we have done for the last 11 years since we’ve had children. They are used to it, but they are proud because they know that people need help every day of the year.”
Paul Owens
Paul, a porter at Chirk Community Hospital in Wrexham for the last five years, is working his usual shift of 7am-3pm on Christmas Day but he will also be surprising the patients with a special visit from Santa. He will be donning a red suit on the day giving out gifts which he’s done several times over the last few years for the hospital.
“Christmas is such a special day in the hospital, it totally feels different, everyone mucks in and gets on with their jobs whilst wearing Christmas hats and in festive spirit. It’s a good atmosphere,” he said. “The patients always enjoy seeing Santa and we give out presents and chat with all our patients.
“On Christmas morning I’ll be doing my normal routine of getting up at 4.30am to get to work for 6.30am, and I’ll get on with my duties as I always do. The hospital does put on a special lunch, but I’ll wait until I get home and have Christmas dinner with my wife, and we’ll open presents together if Santa has been to my house.”
In the run up to Christmas Chirk Community Hospital has held various special events for patients and staff including carol singing, a nutcracker ballerina performance and they’ve created a Santa’s grotto.
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