Clare Gerada: My last Christmas on call

For nearly 40 years I’ve been part of an on-call rota, but this Christmas will be my last on-call commitment, ever. In my first hospital jobs I was on call one in three, which included 8 am on Friday to 5 pm on Monday. As a new partner at my general practice I worked one in five, my pager never far from my side.

I still recall those night time home visits, never quite knowing where to go, with only the A-Z as a guide. In recent years I’ve gradually withdrawn from the full on-call rota, being allowed to stop the red-eye shift a few years ago, weekends more recently; …