Hard-working Edinburgh Royal Infirmary A&E staff thanked with free Christmas dinner

Dinner is served for hard-working A&E staff at Christmas.

Hard-working staff at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary’s accident and emergency department received a free Christmas dinner to thank them for their diligent work over the festive season.

On a day notorious for being unpredictable, it can be difficult to arrange a meal for every staff member on shift on the busy ward floor.

This means doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants on duty often end up going without a proper meal on Christmas Day.

This year, charge nurse Deborah Barton, from Gorebridge, took things into her own hands and approached her local pub to buy a pre-made meal for each staff member to heat up on their break.

But when staff as the Stobs-mill Inn heard about where the food was going they said they would come into the department and offer a meal for each employee free of charge.

Deborah said: “I knew we were not going to be able to arrange to cook something ourselves so I thought I’d go to the local pub to buy some food for the staff and we could reheat it on the day.

“But as soon as I explained to staff in the pub what I was buying the meals for they told me they would handle everything at no charge.”

She continued: “I just couldn’t believe the generosity. It was such a relief to not have to worry about everyone’s meals on top of everything, it really took one stress out of the day.”

At 11 am on Christmas Day volunteers arrived to load up staff plates with roast beef, turkey and all the trimmings.

Deborah said: “We ended up having quite a good day which meant we managed to rotate the staff so six at a time could sit down and have dinner together.

“Everyone had a really good day and we were all talking about how kind it was of the Inn to provide the food on Christmas Day long after they’d left.”