I had a feeling this year was for me and you…
Of course, we all know that there are thousands of people across the country, who after putting years of effort into their working lives, have found themselves sick, disabled, unable to find suitable work, or too unwell to sustain a job. These people have found that their lives have changed considerably from their previous productive selves. Life on the edge – but with a little help and support where it’s needed, a proper allocation of benefits (frankly, not always easily obtained) and with some very careful budgeting, they have been able to keep a home, pay their essential bills and manage to organise their food and fuel, perhaps take the occasional trip out of the house. Beveridge in action – not always smooth running, but a safety net in fact.
You promised me…
Now please just gaze a little into the future if you can – picture these very same people… To a time and place where these delicately balanced financial packages have been dismantled – the incapacity allowance which acknowledged their day-to-day challenges which replaced their former capacity to work (to the tune of a princely £69 per week). When the band finished playing… housing benefits which ensured that they could keep a home; the disability living allowances that enabled them to keep those homes clean and on occasion get out of doors; the independent living allowance …….all gone Oh yes… they could see a better time…
So could anyone…
Nobody comes to wash them, nobody brings their shopping, their bills remain unpaid and their homes are taken away. Personal possessions are sold to buy food and clothes. There are no local shelters because the funding to these stopped several years before. The only option is a B&B many miles away from anything that is familiar – family, friends, GP, hospital specialists, carers. However these are completely unsuitable for those who are wheelchair users, or for those who become bedbound. Meals and bathing facilities are a constant problem. They have nothing to do during the day.
But the wind goes right through you…
At the same time, the healthy spend most of their time queuing for food and looking for work – they have no time to care for the sick. …I could have been someone…
You took my dreams from me… Meanwhile the local GP commissioning service has floundered, overwhelmed by the burden of having such a large number of high need residents foist upon them – in addition of course to an already aging population common to most seaside towns, with their attendant and expensive health problems.
Can’t make it all alone…….
Of course, no one in this patient category is in a position to access private healthcare instead. No one in this patient category is able to travel to another area and try to access the list of another Commissioning group. Their only option is A&E.
…….. almost dead on a drip in that bed
A&E are of course not equipped to provide for their primary care needs.
They’ve got cars big as bars…….They’ve got rivers of gold
Meanwhile, somewhere not so far away, there are those who just laugh and laugh and laugh as they luxuriate in their personal fortunes, which mounted higher and high during those years when their accountant tucked away their taxes in an offshore and invested their trading profits in hidden hedge funds and short trading deals.
They turn their faces away……..
Their future security assured. The country on its knees.
Poguelogue for the present:
Based upon the evidence of history, this needs to be said loud and clear. Should our party machine continue to concentrate on navel-gazing, instead of directly challenging what is effectively government warfare upon the fabric of our society, with a clearly formed and proactive policy framework, this scenario will be more than just a few words on a page…
(Fiddling and burning, burning and fiddling)…oho not just anyone…
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of everyone who will be similarly affected – we need to act NOW.
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day
In the interests of both seasonal pedantry and creative ( if not iambic ) integrity can I just correct the editing typo re A&E and primary care……..SO ..altogether now…….. Can’t make it all alone……. Of course, no one in this patient category is in a position to access private healthcare instead. No one in this patient category is able to travel to another area and try to access the list of another Commissioning group. Their only option is A&E. …….. almost dead on a drip in that bed A&E are of course not equipped to provide for their primary care needs. Also please remember that we only have until the end of January to highlight our concerns re the disaster that awaits us if GP Commissioning is allowed to go through – so please lobby, lobby, lobby! Thankyou – and Merry Christmas!
In the interests of both seasonal pedantry and creative ( if not iambic ) integrity can I just correct the editing typo re A&E and primary care……..SO ..altogether now…….. Can’t make it all alone……. Of course, no one in this patient category is in a position to access private healthcare instead. No one in this patient category is able to travel to another area and try to access the list of another Commissioning group. Their only option is A&E. …….. almost dead on a drip in that bed A&E are of course not equipped to provide for their primary care needs. Also please remember that we only have until the end of January to highlight our concerns re the disaster that awaits us if GP Commissioning is allowed to go through – so please lobby, lobby, lobby! Thankyou – and Merry Christmas!
Sadly, jos Bell’s crafted comments (above) are probably 100% accurate, ominously I can’t see the people of this country putting up with this savage attack on the sick, the poor and the vulnerable for very long. The sooner we stand against this power craving idelogical con-trick, the sooner we’ll bring down the idiots currently about to send us to Hell! Ian Jenkins