An online petition is calling for NHS staff to be awarded medals for long service and good conduct. With 10,000 signatures, the Government will respond to the petition and with 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.
The petition asserts that the contribution NHS staff make to local communities and to the nation is widely unregcognised, and calls for medals to be awarded to all staff who complete 30 and 50 years' continuous unbroken service.
Dr Andrew Kemp PhD, principal scientific officer at Q Technologies Ggroup, who set up the petition, believes the 30 year medal should be called the 'Long Service and Good Conduct Medal' and the 50 years service medal named the 'Meritorious Service Medal'
"I feel that all NHS staff (including ambulance and directly NHS employed GP staff) are not recognised on a national level for their commitment to the NHS and therefore to their local and national communities," said Dr Kemp. "As a decorated soldier, I would like to be able to see the long service of these staff worn as a medal especially on the November remembrance parades, so that I and many others can thank them for their service to this country and the people living here.
"I think that anyone who completes 25 or 30 years, deserves and should be rewarded with an LS&GC (Long Service and good conduct medal, in the same way our armed forces are even if they never left their UK bases), and after 45 or 50 years an MSM (Meritorious Service Medal, again the same as the armed forces get). Very few people get the MSM."
"Service to the communities and service to the Nation should not go unrecognised, and this national award should say something like “From a grateful nation” on it."
To add your support visit: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/219839
