Meet the NHS staff giving up their Christmas to help others this festive season

Pam Campbell

Pam Campbell has worked in the NHS for over 40 years, 27 of those within Southampton’s Homeless Healthcare Team. She previously worked in Guatemala and Colombia – bringing some of the experience of street health to Southampton.

 

Pam said: “I didn’t expect to find the degree of poverty, of health and health access that I did when I first came to Southampton. Having said that - it is an incredibly enriching experience walking alongside people who have encountered a great deal of pretty complex trauma in their lives. I have worked with people who are street homeless; often have alcohol and drug dependencies; coping with mental and a great deal of physical health too.

"Every Christmas Day, since I started this job (with the exception of giving birth to twins just before Christmas in 1991!), I have been out in hostels and on the streets, finding people to help them access services and to give them a hot meal. But, what really strikes me is the difference between me going home to my family and Christmas dinner and the loneliness, and sense of being unloved, that homeless experience when they’re on the streets. If you can bring a little of ‘that’ to the streets or hostels, it can make a big difference. But Christmas really brings it to light, how difficult it is to live without what we all rely on; our social capital, our friends, families and being financially capable."

Lorraine Bishop

Lorraine Bishop is a senior children’s community nurse, working across the Solent community.

 

Lorraine and her team provide care for children and young people who have high nursing need, and who are provided with care at home. Lorraine is one of the many unsung heroes in the NHS who spends her Christmas Day working to make sure children stay safe and well at home, sacrificing her Christmas morning with her children to help others.

She said: “I have been working in the NHS for 11 years and have worked, or been on-call, for at least half of those 11 festive holidays.

“For me and my team working on Christmas Day is just another part of nursing; it’s part of what we do!

“We care for children and young adults, from birth to 19 years, all with varying conditions, many of whom need regular nursing care every day, including at Christmas. We keep children at home as it is the best place for them, and it is especially important that we continue to give care at home at Christmas so that families can be together.

“We want help to avoid people having their Christmas Day disrupted by spending it in a hospital, or on a ward.

“Often it is the only chance that siblings and grandparents will have to spend quality time with our patients. The family can celebrate together and we can visit, do our everyday job and make their life easier.”

This year Lorraine will be visiting a number of children on Christmas Day, including five-year-old George, who is fighting cancer.

Sally Mackenzie

Sally Mackenzie is a senior occupational therapist from the Urgent Response Service who serves people in the Southampton area.

Patients are mainly elderly patients, but can include anyone aged over 18 years old.

The service is focused on preventing clinically unwell people from going into an acute ward and helping them to home quicker for Christmas.

 

She said: "One of the most memorable Christmases I has saw me looking after an elderly chap who was referred to me by South Central Ambulance Service because he had has a fall on Christmas Day.

"Sadly he had no family, felt lonely and was at real risk of being admitted to hospital.

"This made my visit to him particularly important and I valued being able to visit him. Thankfully, I went in and assessed him, provided support at home including therapy and medication. This meant he avoided going to the hospital, staying safe at home, with no more falls!

"I think the NHS makes more of a difference at Christmas. People really don’t want to go to the hospital at this time and being at home is important to them. People are more aware of their loneliness at Christmas, so it’s an honour to work with, and support those people, to make a difference.

"We don’t stop for Christmas and the happiest part of my job, is seeing people safely discharged from Southampton General Hospital to go home for Christmas."

Caroline Hutchings

Caroline Hutchings is a consultant in neurological rehabilitation for Solent NHS Trust, with 30 years of experience as a doctor.

She works in the Western Community Hospital in Millbrook, Southampton, serving and providing care to adults, with complex disabilities, including stroke patients, road accident victims and other people who have suffered brain injuries.

 

Caroline said: “I’ve have done my share of spending shifts in hospital over Christmas. I have spent Christmas Day with other doctors working the same shifts, falling asleep after church and waking up when the chicken started to burn!

"In my current role we work with people with significant physical and cognitive disabilities.

"As a service, we can lend equipment and give training to ensure that patients are safe and well.

"The biggest problem we can experience at this time of year is getting a large enough taxi to get people home with their wheelchair!

"When home just isn’t possible we work hard to try to make the ward a friendly Christmassy place!

"Families can take over a room if they want, or join their loved one for lunch. I pop into the ward on my way from church to my Mum’s and the team will have found time to have some food together, and will be ready to serve a festive lunch!"

Clare White

CLARE White has been working in the NHS, as a qualified nurse, for just over seven years. She stared nursing in the acute hospital on cardiothoracic. She moved into a community nurse role four-and-a-half years ago. Claire shares what it’s like looking after people in their own homes at Christmas time and why it is special to her.

 

She said: “ I am part of a team of nurses who work in the community. We provide care to people in their own homes. By providing support at home, we can help avoid people having to be in hospital and keep them at home, where they want to be.

“In a previous role, I worked in a large hospital on a ward. We always worked Christmas; it was just part of what we did, but the patients were often sad to be in hospital.

“So, I’m really passionate about helping people to keep doing the things they love, out of hospital and with their families, especially at Christmas.

“As a service we don’t shut over Christmas, people still need care at home.

“The staff morale continues to be brilliant; we’re all working for the same reasons.

“We have our own family at home, but actually we’re with our family at work!”