If you have time to read this, you must be ready for Christmas and the celebrations that go with it; cards may be sent, presents wrapped, duty rota sorted and social life planned. If not, perhaps you are like me, and are looking for some distraction from the festive season for just a moment or two, just to help keep things in perspective. For most of us in health care, work goes on as normal over Christmas and New Year and usually gets busier. There is no holiday shut down for the NHS in acute, community or primary care services. Of course, any focus on the NHS in the media is likely to be on hospital care (i.e. presents for children in hospital on Christmas day, and the first Christmas or New Year baby), but colleagues across all community services press on as well, keeping people safe and cared for in their own homes. Harsh winter weather in recent years did let the spotlight shine briefly, and deservedly, on district nurses in particular, as they walked miles through deep snow to see their patients; however, so often community and primary care is the forgotten hero of health care over the festive period.
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