At Gateshead Health, our staff work hard all year round to keep our community and patients safe and healthy. This festive season, we will shine a spotlight on some of our dedicated colleagues who are working on Christmas Day.
Meet Alan, Frailty Specialist Pharmacist. He shares his plans for Christmas Day:
“Hi I’m Alan. I will be the on-call pharmacist from 9am on Christmas Day.
I’m planning to get to church in the morning to celebrate with my church family before opening the department. A small team of us will be at work to dispense discharges to get patients home to their families, and critical medication for unwell patients. We’ll try to make the department as festive as possible with decorations and music, and then once we close up I’m going to a friend’s for dinner.
Fingers crossed the on-call phone allows me to get some nice food. Then I’m on-call overnight for emergencies. Once 9am Boxing Day rolls around I hand over to a colleague and then I can set off on the journey to my parents for a couple of days.
Inpatient Pharmacy will be open 2pm-4pm with cover for emergencies outside these times.”
Vikki Allan, Senior Midwife shares her plans for Christmas Day:
“I am working the Christmas Eve night shift. It is a privilege and honour to welcome in the first Christmas Day babies and then go home to celebrate the rest of the day with my own family. The department has Christmas decorations up and mums and babies get presents too.”
Thank you for looking after our mothers and babies during the festive period!
Jennifer Brown, Senior Nurse Practitioner shares how she will spend Christmas Day:
“My name is Jen and I am a senior nurse practitioner based in the Urgent Treatment Centres at the QE and Blaydon. My role is to assess, treat and discharge patients attending with minor injuries and illness.
I am working the Christmas morning shift at the QE this year and the sort of things we usually see on Christmas Day include cuts or burns from prepping the Christmas dinner, children having injured themselves testing out their new bike/scooter/hoverboard, or people with minor illness like ear infections that sadly do not give everyone a break at Christmas time!
I will be starting the day super early opening presents with my husband and our two sons before heading into work.
Our team usually try and make the shift as nice as possible, we all contribute to a Christmas breakfast and have that with a little glass of alcohol-free Bucks Fizz! We exchange our secret Santa gifts and also have little presents in the department to give any children who might attend over the festive period. We will have the Christmas music playing and our department is decorated so that it feels festive!
Once I finish work I will be heading to my auntie’s house for Christmas lunch, there are usually about 20 of us at least so it will be chaos but lots of fun too!”
Our staff and patients need to stay well-fed on Christmas Day and Stacy Puntin from our catering department will be working serving festive lunches:
“I will be working in the Hub Restaurant from 10am to 1.30pm serving Christmas lunches to all the staff who are working.
After finishing work I will head to my mother in laws to spend the rest of Christmas day with my husband and 2 children and enjoy a well-deserved Christmas lunch”
Thank you to everyone who is working over the holiday period to keep our essential services running, looking after our patients, and keeping them positive during this time. Your dedication to providing high-quality care is inspiring. We hope you all get the chance to take a break and celebrate with friends and family. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!