Yesterday we reported on the payrise MP’s had decided to give themselves which means that they now syphon off from the Taxpayer just under £80,000 per year.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not have anything against MP’s. I have only met one – my local one. And although he was quite aloof, he did take the time to see me a couple of years ago.
We received this message from an oppo (colleague) via our Contact Us page who wanted to remain anonymous. In the context of the MP’s pay rise, then it seems only right to share it, in order to highlight the ongoing lack of support emergency services (including NHS) personnel are getting after they have dedicated their lives to helping others.
“If you do put this anywhere please make sure I stay anonymous.
After reading your post [about] the letter to Jeremy hunt I wanted to share with you something that happened when I went to see my local MP about an issue.
I spoke to a man whilst waiting and he seemed like a lovely man. He explained how he had a 6 month sick note and had been called for an assessment for ESA I believe.
He got 0 points. Was told to go to Job Centre and had all benefits stopped . Poll tax was one he mentioned. We commented how we could hear every unsympathetic word said in the room where we were just about to see our MP about our issues.
This is where I heard the man say that he had health issues and mention his previous job. PARAMEDIC! He was obviously angry and frustrated- he went onto tell the MP (in this room where I could over hear everything) how his shift work caused his diabetes and I believe another illness.
To be honest once he mentioned his job my blood was boiling.
I could see when talking to this man how he was stressed and as he said had been counting down the days to see the MP.
It saddens me to think that this man who had given so much help and care to the health and well being if others could be another catastrophe of the not being able to take that break to make himself well again.
This man explained in great detail how and why he wasn’t fit to work.
How his new medication still wasn’t correct. And I can only hope this man gets a good result when he gets the new assessment that the MP said he will request.
It really hit a nerve with me that this man’s own health was under question when he had done so much to help others. I believe he had been in the job for 11 years”.
COMMENT
It is about time, that there was a dedicated resource within Government that was specifically set up to look after the men and women who have dedicated their lives to helping others.
We hear, via our website, time and time again from former colleagues who, having left the emergency services, now have to try and cope with the after-effect of spending years dealing with the sort of incidents & situations most people will never have to witness or endure.
These people, our colleagues, are human.
They have feelings just the same as anyone else. And yet, when they leave the services, they are given a certificate (if they are lucky) and maybe a pat on the back.
One of my former colleagues took his own life after he retired from 30 years’ of service with the Metropolitan Police. No-one knows why, other than him.
But he was one of the finest Coppers I had the honour of working with. A top bloke, who always kept up the morale of the troops, even when Senior Management started to tell us how s__t we were doing, because we weren’t giving out enough tickets!
Things HAVE to change.
A body needs to be set up in order to specifically look after the men and women who have served in the emergency services and NHS, so that they can be looked after, just as they looked after thousands of others during their darkest & most tragic moments.
Comment written by one of the many admins of Emergency Services Humour on Facebook, who is also a regular contributor to our subscriber-only fortnightly digital magazine, aptly named ‘S__ts & Giggles’
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