And there will be 10 nurses and three or four doctors working on each shift, with the early shift running from 7am until 7.30pm, with only two coffee breaks and a half hour break for lunch.
Celia Kendrick is the lead nurse in A and E, and has worked a fair few Christmas days during the 20 years she has been there.
Feature: Have a thought for those working at ChristmasJemma Walton meets some of the people working over the Christmas period.
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She said: "How busy we are on Christmas Day tends to depend on whether it falls on a Friday or a Saturday night. If it does, then we see all the alcohol-related incidents that we normally see on weekends, but if it falls on a Tuesday, like it does this year, then we don't have as amny of those."
Celia doesn't mind working on December 25, and said that's something that most people who choose to work in the caring profession come to terms with while they are students.
"We have a very nice Christmas dinner from the hospital canteen," she said. "And we have the telly on and carols playing – and we try to give all of the children who come in a little present, like a colouring book.
"And on New Year's Eve we have some alcohol-free champagne and celebrate when it turns midnight, although strangely Millennium Eve was the quietest New Year's Eve we ever had."
A and E typically sees around 200 people through its doors each day, and the numbers on Christmas Day are no different. But Celia said the season is sometimes responsible for some unusual 'only-at Christmas'–type accidents.
"Ther weirdest thing I ever had to deal with was when seven lads climbed up a massive Christmas tree in the middle of a nearby town," she said. "The tree couldn't support them and they all fell off, breaking arms, legs and wrists in the process!"
The full article contains 383 words and appears in Peterborough ET newspaper.
