00:00Hello sir, what's your name? Martin Flowers. Hello Martin, we're here in Newport and
00:05you're a bit worse for wears there, you've had a, you broke your nasty break on your
00:10on your foot and your leg while you were doing your work as a sparky. Yeah, just
00:16one of those everyday accidents you just don't, you know, you can't foresee.
00:22Well yeah, you're up on a ladder, bump, wobble, wobble. Well it's the steps rather than the ladder.
00:26Yeah. Even the investigation just said it's literally one of them things.
00:33Yeah, yeah, and so you're waiting for it to heal, you're on that process now and
00:39then the plan is back to work, same company and everything and carry on as
00:44is, but a bit of a lesson isn't it really, that this bypassing of doctors to
00:50write sick notes, it's kind of going externally from them now isn't it?
00:54Yeah, I can understand part of the reason, because there are people who
01:00are milking the system, but for people like myself, it's like a blank carpet,
01:08everybody's tied with the same brush regardless and the statute, the process
01:15they use, if you pass it, you're deemed fit regardless of anything else.
01:21So you were asked a number of questions, what sort of questions did they ask if you could do?
01:25What tasks? Can you dress yourself? I said yes I can put my clothes on,
01:32but I do need a hand from my wife, depending on my mobility at the time.
01:38Can you feed yourself? Yes I can feed myself, but I can't get my own food and I
01:44can't carry my own food. Can you put your hands above your head? Yes I can.
01:50Can you get up any steps? I can manage about two steps on my crutches.
01:57So the end of this question, it's basically a tick box thing isn't it?
02:02Someone on the other end of a system is ticking boxes on a form, that's how it's
02:05working. So their conclusion at the end of this was what?
02:09They literally found me fit to work. Fit to work, so when you said to them, well hang on,
02:16I have got a job and I'll be going back to the job when it's my foot sealed,
02:20what was their answer to that? Literally when the first question of it came up,
02:26the work coach said there is a probability that you will have to give
02:31up the job, take something in the meantime, because of the length of time
02:36that it will take you to heal up and get back to your normal job. So I said,
02:41does that mean I'll have to give up my job? He says possibly yes, because you
02:45will have to take other employment. Crazy, so you're a skilled electrician,
02:51you're happy where you're working, they're happy with you, they're just
02:54waiting for you to come back, but here you are being told you can rub
02:58your belly, you can touch your head, tick tick on the box and you must find a
03:03job suitable for you. I mean what was your thoughts?
03:08Well exactly, my company has been absolutely brilliant, fully supportive of me.
03:14They could quite easily have got rid of me, but they haven't, they're absolutely
03:20excellent, kept in touch all the way through. The doctors have been brilliant,
03:25looked after me and everything, until we get to this point and I've felt sick.
03:30It's caused arguments between me and my wife, we had a really bad weekend the
03:35other weekend between us. My wife's got mental issues and it's set her off,
03:42she's been touch and go, touch and go, because we're worried, we stand to lose
03:48everything if they sanction us because I won't find work, but I've got a job.
03:53You tell her I'm not under a GP, I'm under a consultant and it was literally
03:59like banging my head against the brick wall. And I guess this is just a lesson we're
04:05learning of this modern way of living aren't we, where it's less about
04:09one person meeting you and listening to you, it's more about computer systems and
04:14algorithms and box ticking isn't it really? It literally is just somebody
04:18asking a question off a sheet and then somebody else has not even gone into the
04:22ins and outs of the person, whether they're fit. My wife's also off sick,
04:27we don't claim when I'm working, we don't claim nothing for her, and yet
04:34as soon as we started they were on at her. She's not fit to work full stop, but
04:40people like my wife or even somebody who's terminally ill will pass a tick box
04:46and they become made and told if you don't work you will be sanctioned.
04:52And that is the attitude that I have had from somebody who you've on there
05:00and the work coach. So you've gone from a full cast to a half cast to a quarter cast,
05:06when is it you're hoping to be back at work now? I'm hoping to be back middle of
05:09July, end of July at the latest. Because I'm wanting to get out, sitting in here,
05:15I've got a load of work in the garden to get done, I've got a load of work around
05:21the house to get done and I just can't do it at the moment because I've been on
05:26crutches and I've listened to the doctors and I'm doing what the doctors
05:31have said because the injury was that bad. Well we wish you all the best
05:36getting up on your feet again and back to work. Thank you very much.
