Andy here, yes, the grumpy half. We’re trying to run the blog chronologically but something has ‘got my goat’ this week and as its current and it’s relevant, I need to share it now.
If you have
friends in high places, Journalistic or Political please, I beg you make them
aware of this post and as I see it, ‘Injustice’.
It’s been
reported via all media forms this week that Labour are proposing to increase
paternity leave for fathers from the current two weeks to four… Below I ask “where is the legislated support
for the working partners of terminally ill cancer patients?”
Let me say
upfront, I’m not unduly political, I also believe the NHS should sit outside of
politics and not be used as a political football, it should be properly funded
whoever is in office and yes, Ministers & Senior NHS ‘Managers’ should be
truly legally & criminally accountable for the allocating & spending of
those funds (or the wasting of them). The rant below is not NHS related.
I’m not
anti-children either, I never had any in my first marriage by choice but as
Julie has Emma & Aaron I’m proud to be their ‘step father’, I love them and
their families dearly.
My gripe is
this:
Since Julie
was diagnosed as first ill then terminally ill with her Brain Cancer I’ve
obviously needed to be at most of Julie’s consultations, I’ve needed to be
there when she had her SRS procedure & her operation, we are involved with
two teams, her Oncology team & her Neurosurgical team. (Julie has other
conditions that result in periodically seeing two other consultants too but I
mainly do not attend these, there is nothing life threatening in them)
My employers
operate their holiday year April to March, I get 25 days holiday plus bank
holidays, under EU law I understand the minimum Holiday entitlement is 20 days,
I highlight this for my gripe is not exclusive to me, it would be worse if like
some others I only had 20 days annual leave.
Of my 25
days holiday this year, I’ve already used 23 attending Julie’s Oncology/Neurosurgical
consultations or being with her for her procedure. I took the remaining two
days holiday so we could have a long weekend in Jersey. SO, true holiday equals
TWO days!
In the main
becoming a parent for the first time or again is a considered choice, yet the
government seem to find it is reasonable to allocate extra leave for a Father
post the birth of their new arrival AND it seems LABOUR want to extend that
further to a total of 20 working days, this is on top of women’s maternity leave.
Am I missing something here? My wife is dying, I would love to
take her on more holidays, I’d like to be able to spend more quality time with
her at home whilst we have time and can yet I have to use my personal holidays
up on consultations and I’m left with no real ‘quality’ time to spend with
Julie unless my employer will grant me and I can afford to take unpaid leave!
It’s not my employer’s responsibility to fund my wife’s illness and they are
being as supportive as they can be.
I’ve worked
pretty much every working day since I left College so around 40 years, I’ve
paid Income Tax & National insurance certainly for the last 20 years at the
higher rates so I’ve done more than my share. I have not claimed a penny in
benefits, I haven’t brought children into this world who by the nature of our
benefits system suck money out of the government’s coffers yet those that have
working or not working are ‘rewarded’ both in terms of benefits and family
allowance AND paid maternity leave are now being told that a political party
want to give them an extra two weeks’ time off that an employer has to fund! I’d
say sod the extra two weeks! If you are man enough to churn out children you
are man enough to plan your holiday leave and to tag it on to your already generous
two week paternity leave! I agree it’s not your fault if the government are
stupid enough to grant it you for you not to take it but it’s morally wrong for
it to be considered in the first place when Cancer patients are getting no
support!
Where is the Government legislated support
for the diagnosed Terminal Cancer Patients loved ones who work and want to support their families
and be with them as they watch their loved ones lives slip away? Far from being supported I/we as in
others in our situation seem to have our nose’s rubbed in it by having to see
and listen to colleagues going about to get an extra four weeks off maternity
leave paid!
It’s a government
& the opposition’s function in life to create a fair and balanced society
with proposals that deliver equality NOT to discriminate against dying cancer
patients and their loved ones!
A colleague say gets 25 working days holiday a year, he gets his wife pregnant and currently 25 days becomes 35 days and under current electoral 'banter' this is likely to increase to 45 working days, he will hopefully have his child to love and cherish for hopefully many, many, years to come yet I have to use my 25 days holiday, for appointments and this year we ended up with just two actual days holiday... Am I the
only one who can see the unfairness in this? Where is the equality and fairness
in this?
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