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Not really an issue.  
 
We have so many calls now the Service we work for are currently employing serveral different private ambulance firms and a number of St John vehicles as the only way to meet demand.  
 
Get rid of half the stupid jobs, factor in the fact that we are losing staff by the bucket load and they are barely managing to recruit anyone and, soon, we\'ll just about meet in the middle and be right without any redundancies!!

Ah...ok. Bit of a relief, thought there was some real confusion going on there!! Was a nice thought though......:rolleyes:
 
If I\'m honest I think the best way the ambulance service could save money would not be through making these cuts but through spending some money educating the public on what actually constitutes an emergency.  It costs around £700 each job an ambulance rolls to.  In a normal 12hour shift I would say, on average, each crew at Guildford station attends roughly 8-10 jobs.  Of those jobs I would estimate at least 75% of them have absolutely no need for an ambulance.  The Service, and therefore the tax payer, would save far more than they will if these pension changes do take place if they could stop 999 being called for 41yr olds with diahorrea for 2 days and 35 yr olds with headaches......and then there are the people who are simply drunk....

Am I reading that right Will??? £50k!!!!!!!!!!! I\'d like to work for ur ambulance service! :o Having done 10years in the service I am on the top most pay banding for my role doing a 42 hour week and I ain\'t out of the £20k\'s!!!! Blimey....do people really think we get £50k???
 
The new role of ECSW\'s, all of whom work on the front line ambulances responding to 999 calls with either a paramedic or technician, are on just under £14k.
 
No wonder the public don\'t get our pain at losing potentially £3k in a year topped with a two and a half year, so far, pay freeze if they think we\'re earning that much!
 
That truly isn\'t a rant at u Will...that is just my surprise....it\'s actually quite nice to think someone thinks we\'re worth that much!!

This is all fair comment.  I can accept we have to suffer along with everyone else.  The thing is we already have!

On the pension - if you take away your mortgage plus other costs that will be gone when you retire and any work related costs (transport, etc) could you survive on 6k now? Well, you 6k and your wife\'s pension plus both of your state pensions?

No wife...I\'m a girl...and a girl that likes boys at that!!
 

It won\'t be 6k in 2045 because it\'s inflation-linked.  

Well that doesn\'t bode well if we\'re in another recession by then!! :o
 

My only issue with pub sec pensions is the disparity between them and private sec pensions and the requirement for most of the schemes to be subsidised from taxation to pay out to retired members. If they were self-funding from contributions and the fund pot then the terms can be a generous as anything.
 
The big disparity is not really the top paid people but comparing like-for-like at the low salary end where the provision in private sector is so small you\'d be looking at much less pension a year paying in what you\'re being asked to now.

True, if I worked in the private sector I would indeed have a smaller pension.  I don\'t however, I made the choice to go into the public sector and I was promised this pension scheme as a sweetner to the low salary, unsocial hours and general hazards of long term injury that come with doing the job I do.  Now they are changing those terms.
 
I don\'t think the system is fair at all....in fact I personally believe the people who have got the country into this mess should be the ones taking the hit.....if the bankers wish to put their millions of pounds bonuses into a pension fund for the public sector instead and lessen the contributions made by the tax payer (that\'s me as well...still pay tax and NI contributions myself obviously) to it that\'d be fine by me!!
 
**ducks and runs for cover**
 
This may all now be moot though from what Mr Pilot just said...oh and glad the crew u had were good!

I can only speak from an ambulance person\'s perspective but I, personally, will be striking on Wednesday.
 
Currently my pension will be worth about £7000 per annum and I will be entitled to collect it from the age of 65. I can only imagine how much that\'ll actually buy me by the year 2042 :o
 
With the proposed changes I will be paying almost £100 more a month in pension contributions over what I already pay now. On top of that I will not be able to claim this pension until I am 68 and it will be worth only £6000 per annum.
 
I don\'t really envisage being able to live off £6000 a year in the year 2045. I don\'t really see how I am going to swallow another £1200 annual pay cut having already lost £1200 in the meal break deal (which we did not take industrial action on), or the £800 cut enforced on us with the unsocial hours cut.
 
None of these issues have reached the press and we are working more and more shifts, often not getting our half hour "lunch" break until 8 or 9 hours into a 12 hour shift...sometimes not getting it at all.
 
For myself, I found deciding whether to strike or not a difficult decision too. People don\'t work on the ambulances for the great salary....there isn\'t one...they mostly do it because they care and want to make the worst day of someone\'s life (let\'s face it, u don\'t have an ambulance out to u on a good day...the only happy job we have is child birth...as long as it all goes to plan!) a little bit easier and more bearable. However, to loose £3k from my salary in 2 years and to leave my with a very uncertain retirement, where they expect me still to be able to carry 15stone patients down the stairs at 67, I reached the decision that enough was enough. Even if nothing changes I have said "I disagree with this".
 
Just my pounds worth!

Animal abuse??? :2Confused  That for that you tube video? Honestly....the world has gone mad!!!! :Hammer

I have absolutely no desire to have a go at you, or anyone else for that matter, John-I don\'t know you. Your views are your views and I can respect that.

I would like to clear up one untruth in ur reply to my post though. Nik did not "wish you an aneurysm". Whilst discussing a subject on FDUK (NOT this forum incidentally), nik simply said that a certain topic being discussed would cause you an aneurysm. I know this is a sensitive subject for you, I was genuinely sorry to hear of your loss, but come on John, had he said blimey that\'ll give him a fit or that\'ll have him screaming blue murder, which would have been in exactly the same sentiment, would there have been quite so much fuss and a whole thread posted by you telling all members of this forum what a terrible man Nik is whilst he was in no position to reply? You do seem determined to make Nik sound malicious and he just isn\'t.

Anyway, I\'ve read the rest of your post and I didn\'t really like it, but then it\'s just words on a page isn\'t it and doesn\'t, in all honesty, affect my life in any way. I feel the truth should be presented which I have fulfilled in my reply, anything else I am happy to agree to disagree on!

I can\'t believe Nik da got banned.........would be laughable if it wasn\'t quite so insulting to the members of this club.
 
Not being funny, we are all our own people are we not? If u don\'t want to hear what someone has to say, don\'t read their post..simples!! It\'s not homework...the teacher won\'t be smacking the back of ur hands with a wooden ruler if u don\'t people!! :spank
 
Nik da\'s a damn good guy and this is the club\'s loss.....anti the club indeed-how many times did Nik da fail to turn up to shows in support of the club exactly?  I don\'t believe anyone has made the effort to turn out to more!!! :Nono!
 
Apologies, I would have put this on Ada\'s thread on this subject....but of course it got locked...sigh!! :2Rolleyes

Rob, my first thought was thyroid as has already been mentioned. Usually with an underactive one u would get the lethargy and light headed symptoms but u would also, in the vast majority of cases, get noticable weight gain. An overactive thyroid would also result in the tiredness etc but would, again in nearly all cases, be accompanied by weight loss if left untreated. To be honest, even a first year med student would test for this though and it is just a very basic blood test needed to diagnose it.

 
If u have had fainting spells then, if it were me, I would be to the point of demanding a 24hour blood pressure test (usually just a quick appointment at ur local hospital for the nurse to fit the cuff then get on with ur day as usual and the machine will just go off at random intervals and log ur BP in it\'s memory). Also, I do think it is remiss of ur GP not to request a 24hr ECG just to be on the safe side (don\'t panic-this is more a case of ruling things out than finding anything now-the heart is one organ the medical profession knows how to treat!! Most problems, if found, can be sorted).

 
None of these things would explain the abdo pain though :3Confused I presume they have done the usual endoscopy and colonoscopy to rule out diverticulitus and chrones (although u would have other symptoms realistically if it were either of these).  The scans would have ruled out any aneurysm type problems.
 
Jeez...I\'ve been rambling!! :o  Basically, go back to ur doctor (again, I know!) and tell him u r not happy and that u wish to be referred on.  I hope they get u sorted and ur feeling better soon

Have u had any significant weight gain or loss (without trying obviously)?

Oh no!!!!!!  Flippin Ruby really does know when to play up sometimes doesn\'t she!! :o  Sure she\'ll be fine tomorrow though...tell her Ralph is coming to play!
 
We\'re gonna do a pit stop at Wisley for fuel and, more importantly, coffee.....u like a delivery to Jnc 11?  Uncle Era is gonna meet us and travel up too!

Love a good party!! :Thumbsup!:cheers:guinness
 
Nik da...u sure u wanna get me on monster :2eek  It\'s not really as though I don\'t suffer from fairly constant verbal diahorrea without having a major caffiene in take!!! :Talking1 See u in a few hours....very excited finally gettin to a show this year!!!! :Party

Well...why the hell not!!  Free bar till midnight, cheesy disco and even cheesier dancing..................CHEERS!! :cheers

....Top of Guildford High Street around midnight (u dirty stop out!! )  That u Mr Tommo?