IBMS blog: working through the winter holidays

My name is Jonathan Duncan and I am a Biomedical Scientist in Haematology and Blood Transfusion labs within the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.

Our Department comprises of approximately 80 staff across the three hospitals in Belfast, many of whom are committed to an Out of Hours rota. We provide a 24/7, 365 days a year service to Belfast and further afield. Whilst the clinicians endeavour to send as many patients home to enjoy Christmas with their families there are those that are too unwell to do so and we always have to be on hand for emergency cases providing transfusion support when necessary.

This will be my third year working the Christmas Day night-shift (7pm to 9am). Our staff come from all over Northern Ireland and as a Belfast native, I try where possible to swap my shifts to cater for those who live far away or with young families. My own Dad worked for many years for the Department of Environment helping to grit the roads on an on-call service, so my family is used to cutting the festive period short on occasion.

I will miss sitting around the dinner table with my cousins playing games that night but the world does not stop because it is Christmas Day and so many other people within the NHS and beyond have to work too.