Heathcare Assistant Secures Parliament Debate On NHS Pay Rises After 160k Sign Petition

So my phone buzzes, and it's an email from the Government Petitions Committee - as I nervously scroll through, my eyes immediately spot the sentence "I’m pleased to let you know that the petitions committee has agreed to schedule a debate on your pay rise petition". I almost dropped my phone!

I couldn’t believe it, the previous day I felt my campaign had gone a little stale, with media interest drying up, I began to wonder if NHS staff and frontline workers had been forgotten about?

I said to myself, Shane you just need a fresh approach, so I decided to move away from the usual contacting of MPs asking for their support, and then it hit me - Marcus Rashford the inspirational footballer immediately sprang to mind.

I thought if one high profile celebrity could get our government to do a complete u-turn on their decision not to provide children with free school meals over the summer, what could a bunch of celebrities' support for my petition do?

Spending a few hours sending polite requests on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram asking various celebrities for their support with my campaign, I wasn’t sure what the response would be. To my surprise, tweets and inbox messages started to roll in.

Over the last 48 hours I have had numerous high profile members of the showbiz world uniting in solidarity, not only signing and sharing my petition link and bumping up the signatures but also sending kind and encouraging messages of gratitude and support. Strange that I should then be given a debate date immediately after - coincidence? who knows?

How do I feel about this amazing news? Well as per my usual 'nervous about everything' self, I’m feeling hopeful that our government will do the right thing. NHS healthcare workers and frontline staff have worked tirelessly over the last few months trying to save the lives of Coronavirus patients. We have held the hands of your loved ones whilst they sadly passed away. And whilst most of us found the clap for carers campaign heartwarming, it hasn’t taken away the risk of us catching Covid-19, neither will offering a green metal badge take away our daily anxieties.

So Boris if by some chance you get to read this, please think back to when you were yourself in hospital, your life in the hands of our wonderful NHS staff. Spending extortionate amounts of money painting your plane is an unacceptable gross use of public funds. Your country needs to see that you genuinely care about the NHS and its staff, this is your perfect opportunity to prove that, don’t waste it!

Stay safe.