Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust choir’s A Bridge Over You is in second position behind Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself

The coveted Christmas No 1 slot has been taken by a collection of good, bad and downright awful songs over the years – but this year a surprise contender is in the running.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust choir’s A Bridge Over You, a reworking of Coldplay’s Fix You and Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, may yet reach the top spot this festive season. The song is in second position, trailing behind Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself, which had a narrow lead of just 3,000 combined sales at the halfway stage of the chart week.

Working in a psychiatric ward at Christmas made me commit to the NHS Read more

“It’s a proper charts battle,” said Katie Rogerson, a children’s doctor in London and choir member. “It’s just ridiculous that it’s the NHS versus Justin Bieber, but that’s all in the jolliness of it.”

The song was originally produced two years ago following the choir’s work with choirmaster Gareth Malone on the BBC2 programme Sing While You Work, originally broadcast in 2012. In October this year, Rogerson, one of the choir members; Harriet Nerva, a junior doctor; and Joe Blunden, an NHS communications manager, started a grassroots social media campaign to get the song to No 1 this Christmas.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir perform their song A Bridge Over You. Photograph: Lauren Hurley/PA

Nerva, 26, a junior doctor at Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridge, decided to launch the campaign after a bad day at work. “A patient with cancer that I had been looking after for quite a number of weeks died.” she said. “I was listening to the song and it dawned on me that a great way of translating how I was feeling and how proud I was to work for the NHS would be getting [the song] to No 1.”

In a challenging year for the NHS, with the junior doctors contract and planned cuts to bursaries for nurses and allied health professionals occupying the headlines, Nerva and Rogerson think the song promotes some important messages. “I think some of the messages in the song are very pertinent ... It’s to say we’re here for you, throughout the week, 365 days a year.” said Nerva.

Rogerson added: “It’s a challenging time for the NHS and morale is quite low ... We do feel that. People have a genuine concern for what’s going to happen and for the future of the NHS ... We’ve got this fantastic institution that we’re incredibly proud to work for. We wanted people to recognise all the brilliant things that happen on an everyday basis rather than feel miserable and unappreciated.”

The campaign has received huge public support. Nerva said: “It’s been quite touching having people tell us their stories about how they love the NHS and how it has saved their life.”

Everyone in the NHS dreads working at Christmas – but it fills me with pride Read more

The song is also dedicated to all those professionals and patients who will be spending the festive season in hospital. Rogerson said: “Everyone always makes the best of it ... but no one really wants to be in hospital on Christmas Day. We’ve got this image of the song making those people feel like the rest of the country hasn’t forgotten them.”

As for whether the song will get the top spot, Rogerson said: “It would be phenomenal. If everything stops right now, we’ve been touched and overwhelmed and everyone’s been so wonderful and generous. You don’t expect an NHS choir to make the top 40 so to be honest, we’re [already] massively pleased. If we got to No 1, it would be insanity but a really good version of it.”

You can download the song here. All proceeds will be shared between healthcare charities, including Carers UK and Mind – with a percentage also being distributed to Samh (Scotland) and Niamh (Northern Ireland).

Join our network to read more pieces like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.