Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir singers are battling it out against Justin Bieber and X Factor winner Louisa Johnson for this year’s Christmas Number One single.

The NHS Hospital Choir are second favourites to take the top spot with A Bridge Over You - a mash-up of Coldplay’s Fix You and Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.

The track, performed by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust staff including nurses, doctors, physiotherapists and porters, is this year’s fast-selling charity effort.

Junior doctors Harriet Nerva and Katie Rogerson, and NHS communications manager Joe Blunden started the campaign by setting up a Facebook page – Get The NHS To Number One This Christmas, which has amassed more than 200,000 followers.

Mr Blunden, 31, who grew up in Lewisham, told News Shopper: “At first, it was completely speculative putting it out on Facebook but it became quite clear early on that people were really going to get behind us.

“We are so excited and so overwhelmed by the public’s support. People are so passionate about the NHS and have left lots of positive comments.

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Mr Blunden's son Jack, who was born on Boxing Day, last year

“We produced the song a couple of years ago and promoted it more locally to begin with but then we thought, ‘Why not, why couldn’t we get it to Christmas Number One?’"

People have been showing their support across social media by sending in photos of themselves holding up a sign reading “I Do” with the hashtags #LoveYourNHS and #NHS4XmasNo1.

The other favourites for the Christmas Number One single are Justin Bieber, who has dominated the charts in recent weeks with his new album Purpose and Louisa Johnson with her cover of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young.

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The NHS Hospital Choir, which is made up of around 20 performers, were runners-up two years ago in Gareth Malone's BBC Two show Sing While You Work.

The single and video are available to download from iTunes for 99p, Amazon for 79p and other online retailers now - but to win the Christmas battle the choir are urging everyone to wait until Friday, December 18 to download.

All proceeds from the song will be split between Carers UK, Mind, and the Scottish Association for Mental Health and the Northern Island Association for Mental Health.