A HOSPITAL heart doctor hopes to hit the Christmas number one spot.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Bill McCrea is making his second charge on the charts with Christmas Night (Tryin’ to Get Home).

The song charts the struggles of those who work in the emergency services and who face being away from their families over the festive period.

Sales will raise money for the Brighter Futures radiotherapy appeal and British Heart Foundation.

Dublin-born Bill, 62, said: “Christmas is when people enjoy themselves.

“However, while we’re having a great time with our families we have got to remember all the people who give up their Christmases to ensure society keeps running.

The song began as a Christmas cover of song Saturday Night All Alone – but quickly developed after Bill played it to Harriet McCullough, a fellow member of cardiac ward group the Wiltshire Heart Throbs.

“She said it was a very sad song,” said Bill of Harriet’s reaction. “So it turned to Christmas Night Being All Alone – and that was even sadder.

“I had this image of a doctor trying to get home for Christmas. He can’t get home, there’s always something else going on.”

That doctor could easily be Bill.

A cardiologist in Swindon since 1994, he’s been forced to leave the turkey on the Christmas table when he’s been called in to help a heart patient.

“I’ve had missed Christmases, staying in hospital operating all day,” he said. “But that’s normal. You expect to be looking after sick people during the holiday period. You don’t go into this profession unless you’re aware of that.”

Doctors, nurses and members of all three emergency services came together earlier this winter to shoot the video – filmed free of charge by Old Town firm Ottr Works.

It starts with firefighters and paramedics battling to free a patient from a crushed car. In the hospital she’s treated by a young doctor – who we see fighting to get back home to his own two girls.

Bill and fellow members of the Wiltshire Heart Throbs are hoping to repeat their success of last year, when single Yahweh Christmas Cheer made the Amazon’s folk chart top 10.

He said: “I really hope this song not only delivers some festive cheer to those people who are working away from their families this Christmas, but also raises a shed load of money for Brighter Futures.”

The hospital hopes that their radiotherapy appeal will hit £2million by Christmas.

Catherine Newman, head of fundraising for Brighter Futures, said: “The warming sounds of Bill and his guitar are fast becoming a staple of the Christmas season and I really hope this new record can help take our current total even higher.”

A father-of-three, Bill has been writing music since he was a young man.

But at 17, he came home to find that his father had hidden all his music – after Bill was discovered busking on the streets of Dublin.

“He was so embarrassed,” said Bill. “Not because of how bad I was, but because his son was begging.”

The single is available to download from Amazon and iTunes.

Hard copies are available from Holmes Music in Faringdon Road, Swindon, and the Amigo shop in GWH’s front entrance.