”It’s a privilege to look after someone at the end of their life”
While the festivities signal a break from the daily grind for most of us, 900,000-plus people in the UK still have to work on 25 December. Kerry Fowler meets two whose jobs keep them away from home on Christmas Day – but who have their own special ways of celebrating
THE CHRISTMAS WORKERS
SAM NEWMAN
Sam is a specialist nurse who works in an acute NHS trust in central London
“As a child, Christmas was a lot of fun – decorating the tree, lots of presents, a big group of us getting together and eating lovely food. My mum was a nurse too, and if she was working we’d still have Christmas dinner, then take some up to her in A&E.
I knew I’d have to work unsocial hours when I signed up to be a nurse. It’s part of the job. My background is in intensive care and I now work for NHS Blood and Transplant as a specialist nurse for organ donation. The waiting list doesn’t close for Christmas and people still need transplants – this year I’ll be on call from 9am on Christmas Eve to early Christmas morning and I’ll probably sleep until about lunchtime because I’ll have been up for 24 hours.