Are you fit enough?

[Chris Houston]

If anyone is unfit to do their job they cannot expect to keep it, would seem to be even more important for a Fire Fighter.

Most employers will have a system of dismissing people with medical conditions who prevent them from doing their job, even if it is not their fault.  If an accountant has a car accident that leaves him in a vegatative state, his firm are not going to keep paying him and expecting him to sit in his office doing nothing.  That is why people sue those who injure them for loss of future earnings.

[Benzerari]

I understand that he wasn't dismissed for being overweight but for being incapable; i.e. he couldn't carry out the normal tasks required of a firefighter.  Although he is now back at work but in a different roll, this really does set alarm bells ringing for me.

Now I can see a clear picture then...

Put a 29 year firefighter through the hoops and see if he passes - No?  Sack him and save 10 years pension!

The Tax payers may lose when sacking him out, he may not find a job so quick and then rely on 'benefits', it comes to the same thing, it seems to me, this wil increment the 3million people getting full support from tax payers by '1'.

[Benzerari]

That is why people sue those who injure them for loss of future earnings.

Just heard some news about some of the American soldiers do that, to avoid getting returned to IRAK... and lives all the rest of their lives with desability and pension...

[Chris Houston]

That is why people sue those who injure them for loss of future earnings.

Just heard some news about some of the American soldiers do that, to avoid getting returned to IRAK... and lives all the rest of their lives with desability and pension...

I don't know of that.  That would seem to be a different scenario.

[Benzerari]

That is why people sue those who injure them for loss of future earnings.

Just heard some news about some of the American soldiers do that, to avoid getting returned to IRAK... and lives all the rest of their lives with desability and pension...

I don't know of that.  That would seem to be a different scenario.

Yes mate, just heard it this morning in the news, people trying to escape their job are various and in every nation, also at all levels, just don't be surprised!

[Chris Houston]

Agreed, but soldiers deliberatly trying to avoid duties is a different situation than Fire Fighters being unsuitable.  Different motives, different causes.

[Benzerari]

Agreed, but soldiers deliberatly trying to avoid duties is a different situation than Fire Fighters being unsuitable.  Different motives, different causes.

have given the same result

[pugh]

I understand that he wasn't dismissed for being overweight but for being incapable; i.e. he couldn't carry out the normal tasks required of a firefighter.  Although he is now back at work but in a different roll, this really does set alarm bells ringing for me.

Now I can see a clear picture then...

Put a 29 year firefighter through the hoops and see if he passes - No?  Sack him and save 10 years pension!

The Tax payers may lose when sacking him out, he may not find a job so quick and then rely on 'benefits', it comes to the same thing, it seems to me, this wil increment the 3million people getting full support from tax payers by '1'.

Agreed, but the funds come from a completely different budget and has zero impact on the Fire Authority budget.

[kurnal]

I know you are right pugh and isnt that just another example of the waste imposed by the governments financial systems and regulations- we can waste as much money as we like provided it shifts the burden onto someone elses accounts. We see it all the time dont we- local and national governments and in particular the health authorities.

Off topic example- prescriptions used to be good for 56 day supply of tablets. Considered wasteful on drugs so potentially savings can be made by reducing to 28 day maximum.

Result - saving for the PCT drugs budget.

However doctors now have double the work for repeat prescriptions
NHS paperwork doubled for repeat presscriptions
Chemists have to do each job twice - double the staffing and stocking costs
Patient has to visit doctor and chemist  twice as often - double bus fares, petrol etc

I dont believe it!!!!!

[pugh]

Unfortunately Kurnal, this is the world in which we live.  (Soapbox time again folks!)  VALUE for money has been thrown out in place of reducing (perceived?) costs and meeting targets; consultants roam freely through our once treasured and revered organisations, wreaking havoc with systems and procedures that have stood the test of time and delivered high quality service for years.  They have yet to realise that everything that can be counted doesn''t necessarily count, and that many things that cannot be counted do!

The rot started with education many, many years ago and quickly spread to the NHS.  This was followed swiftly by the armed forces, the police and now the fire service.  We can see the results as plainly as the nose on your face and yet the Whitehall mandarins press on with short termism and box ticking instead of a sustained, long term policy.  (The only long-term policy that has ben successful over the years has been to deny the country a decent road infrastructure (as compared to France, Spain, Germany, etc) and to drive the motorist to the brink of bankruptcy.)  

Nurse, the screens!