Christmas day, emergency ward Mater Dei: my 12 hours of work

The way the shifts worked out this year I get to work on Christmas Eve during the day, Christmas night and New Year’s Eve at night. The hospital is very busy at the time of year for a number of reasons. Firstly we have the genuine cases where people really need hospital treatment. The usual accidents that tend to go up at this time of year. Just this morning a young man had Breakfast at Hank’s, instead of Tiffany’s, with his car!

It is also the time of year when chest infections are prevalent, especially among the elderly. We have an elderly patient right now, who is suffering a severe chest infection and is counting the minutes.

Secondly, the hospital acts as a dumping ground for elderly relatives that are a burden at this time of year. Families bring elderly patients in and will not have them back at any cost. Though we try our best to remedy the situation we cannot turn an elderly person out into the streets. The elderly shouldn’t have to pay the price of their family’s neglect.

Then there are the genuine social cases, where an elderly person was being looked after by his or her spouse and for some reason the person who was providing the care now needs to be cared for, for example after sustaining a fracture. We are adamant not to accept social cases but sometimes we just don’t have a choice.

We have a limited amount of space but we do our best to accommodate people where we can. We try to keep the elderly out of hospital wherever we can, unless they specifically need hospitalisation. The hospital is the worst place for an old frail person who is susceptible to contagious infection that passes through the hospital on a daily basis.

During the festive season it is not only the doctors who are on duty that have their minds on the hospital. A number of volunteer doctors and nurses are on call, so that in the even that something major happens there will be enough staff called in to handle the situation.

On paper we are not on call 24/7 but in actual fact we are. If there is a major accident everyone is called in.

This means that even during time off, the festivities are mostly alcohol free for the people who work in the emergency department, just in case.

We still have fun when we are off, it’s just that we have to do it without alcohol – we have Kinnie instead of Martini and Sprite instead of vodka. We don’t take kindly to any of our staff being admitted to hospital for over-drinking, even if they are off. If you are not working then please don’t add to my workload!

I also have my own family to think of. My wife and one and a half year-old son will be spending much of the holidays without me, and although it saddens me to be missing this precious family time I am appreciative of some free time I get during the festive season.

I get to spend Christmas Eve with the family and Christmas Day lunch before I start what is usually a 12-hour shift, with no breaks at all.

On a good night we will get through an average of 90 to 100 patients, on a bad night it goes up to 150. I get to spend New Year’s Day lunch with the family and then go off to work again in the evening. I don’t feel like I’m missing too much on New Year’s Eve as a one and half year-old keeps you very much away from the party scene anyway.

I am the last person you want to see on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, so please stay safe and do your best not to meet me during the festive season, as I can tell you that if you do it will be a night to remember and the memories won’t be fond ones.