PATRICK CAIRNS CEO PTC BLOG – 8 DECEMBER 2015
I suspect that if I were to write an end of year blog that attempted to capture everything that had happened in 2015, it would end of being much longer a document than any of you would want to read, and it would certainly be much longer than I would want to write. I will however, attempt to touch on a couple of key issues that did occur during the year, without going into too much detail, and then focus on some of the more recent events.
First and most importantly although we are still balancing our end of year numbers, we have again at the PTC treated almost 4000 police patients throughout the year for both physical and psychological conditions, and returned the vast majority of those back to work much earlier than they would have done without a stay at the PTC, and in a better state of physical and mental health. I should also add that I have personally talked to hundreds of our patients, and as well as being one of the more enjoyable parts of my job, it is also both humbling and inspiring to listed to every day acts of selfless devotion to duty that our officers carry out on a daily basis that often leaves them injured.
Probably the most significant decision in the first quarter of the year was the decision to launch the Castlebrae upgrade with the construction of a new swimming pool, hydrotherapy pool and gymnasium. I am pleased to tell you that we are well on target for our work and expect to deliver a dramatically enhanced and improved Centre at Castlebrae in Spring 2016.
Next was a decision by the Board of Trustees in August to widen eligibility to sign up to the PTC to PCSOs, Special Constables and Detention/Custody Officers (where employed by a Chief Constable or PCC). There was a strong moral argument to include these additional groups in the PTC constituency as the policing landscape has evolved in recent years, but there was also a strong financial argument as we realised that we would be unlikely to replace the 5000 police officer donors that we had lost since 2010 due to cuts to the police budgets. The financial argument also underpinned the decision by the Board of Trustees that if Retired Officers wished to apply for treatment at the PTC in the future, they would need to be current donors at half the rate that Serving Officers donate at. I won’t pretend that this decision was not controversial for some, but I have been heartened by how positive the many retired officers that I have spoken to have been about the policy change, as they accepted the need to find new income streams, and we already have well over 1200 new Retired Officer donors who have signed up to donate to the PTC in 2016 already.
The final big muscle move of 2015 was the decision by the Trustees to increase the weekly donation from 1 January 2016 to a new rate of £1.80 per week. This may on the surface appear to be a large increase, but it is worth pointing out that the last donation rate increase for the PTC was in 2011, that the Trustees have decided not to increase the donation rate for St George’s Police Children’s Trust which has been held at its current rate since 2011, and although we cannot make any guarantees as none of us really knows what is round the corner, the Trustees do not plan any further increases to the donation rate for at least 3 years. We still believe that £1.80 per week represents outstanding value for money in terms of the quality and type of treatment that our patients will receive at both Centres, and I would ask all our donors to please stay with us, keep paying your donations, and help the PTC continue to help and support our police patients when they come to us for treatment.
On more routine business we have again been busy since the last Blog and welcomed a variety of visitors to the PTC. We hosted Mary Calam who is the Director General of the Crime and Policing Group at the Home Office for her first visit and Michael Matheson the Scottish Parliament Justice Secretary to Castlebrae where he had an opportunity to look around the evolving building work.
On 7 December Neil Massey the President of the RPOAS and David Brown the Secretary of the RPOAS visited the PTC in Harrogate, and they were accompanied by Ian Potter the President of NARPO and Steve Edwards the CEO (Designate). This was a very useful opportunity for the PTC team to get round the table with these Retired Officer Association representatives, to discuss recent events, and to work out a common way ahead about how we can to work together closely and to provide mutual support to each other in the future.
In terms of other key activity I was pleased to be invited to address the Police Firearms Officers Association Conference in Wiltshire in November, and I also attended the Gurney Fund AGM and Board of Trustees in West Sussex in the same month. Mark Oxley, Peter Moore and Fran Greenwood represented the PTC at the Joint Chief Constable and PCC Conference in Manchester, and were there when the positive news came in from the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement that Police budgets were in fact to be protected, rather than slashed to the bone as we all expected. Finally during the period, I was delighted to sign the MIND Blue Light Pledge at the PTC, as part of our ongoing commitment and support of mental health issues for our staff and patients.
I will also mention a specific fundraising effort as well because it is rather unusual for us to get any donations from outside of the policing community. On the 1st of December the Community School of Auchterarder gave a presentation on the work of the PTC to a packed hall and a table of judges as part of the Youth & Philanthropy Initiative in the town. It was the culmination of months of hard work by the young people, who were mentored and guided by Graeme Addison (or Fundraiser in Castlebrae), and on the day their presentation was judged to be the best. As a result they won £3,000 for the PTC who were their nominated charity. As well as being a tremendous effort in its own right, as I say this is highly unusual for us to get a donation from outside the typical policing agencies, but very much an avenue that we wish to tap into in the future.
I know that some of these blogs can seem like a long list of who has been to the PTC that month and therefore not very interesting for all those who read the blog, but I would reassure you that first of all our priority does remain the care and treatment of all our police patients, but we also believe that it is important to work hard to raise the awareness of the PTC with potential donors and partners, and just ensure that we remain in everyone’s minds for the work that we do.
On that note you will be relieved to know that this is the last blog that I will write before Christmas, so I will close by thanking you all for your support this year, and wishing you a safe, peaceful and happy Christmas holidays, however you may celebrate it, and whether you are on or off duty. I do hope that you have an opportunity to spend at least some of the Christmas period with Family, Partners and friends and to relax and enjoy yourself, and I will look forward to seeing some of you at the PTC in 2016.
Feliciter Servimus
Patrick Cairns
CEO PTC
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