2019-12-01_Red_UK

Y

ou get used to it quite quickly, really. Creeping

out of the house early, one last glance at the tree

glistening, presents strewn underneath, knowing

you won’t be there to see them opened. The last

click of the door as you leave Christmas behind

for another year. Because while everyone else

is seeing what Santa left them, you’ll be on

the labour ward delivering a different kind

of Christmas present, or down in A&E – how

can I put this – retrieving what someone’s got stuck up their chimney.

Of the seven Christmases I was an obs and gynae doctor, I worked for

six of them. And I was far from alone. Every year, hundreds of thousands

of NHS staff forgo chewing on overdone turkey and squabbling over board

games to do what would be unthinkable for so many other people: spending

Christmas away from their loved ones. Because while the rest of the

176

December 2019 | REDONLINE.CO.UK

His first book, a medical

memoir about life in

A&E, was a huge

bestseller. Here, author,

comic and former

junior doctor Adam Kay

shares his joyful, poignant

• and darkly
  funny – Christmas
  moments on
  the wards

Twas the

NIGHTSHIFT

before

Christmas