Police Treatment Centres help you get back on your feet

EVERY 27 minutes a police officer somewhere in the UK is assaulted by a member of the public.

This results in a lot of sprains, bruising, broken bones and emotional trauma.

It is a dangerous job, but fortunately South Yorkshire Police officers have a great facility – The Police Treatment Centres – to support them when they are hurt.

The Police Treatment Centres are there to help injured officers return to health – and duty – as soon as they can.

The two centres – St Andrews in Harrogate and Castlebrae near Perth – offer age appropriate, job specific and comprehensive physiotherapy, treatment, and care programmes, free of charge and all under one roof.

Last year more than 4,000 serving and retired police officers received free treatment from the Police Treatment Centres. The treatment is free because officers make regular payroll donations of £1.30 per week.

And the PTC has just received a grant for the next three years from Police Mutual to support their delivery of psychological support.

Teams of therapists work with the nurses to provide complementary therapy to patients admitted under the stress programme. This is further backed up by classes that provide information and training on relaxation techniques and complement the support for sleep deprivation and shift working.

Richard Gagen, a South Yorkshire Officer, visited St Andrews following a family bereavement. He said: “I came up to Harrogate following a family bereavement – Dad died suddenly. Coupled with the fact that I was feeling low and work commitments changed I became ‘over anxious’.

“My doctor and occupational health thought a stay at the home may benefit me, and it certainly did.

“I came up to Harrogate feeling drained, tired and quite literally depressed. From getting there and speaking to the triage nurse I started to feel less anxious and more relaxed almost immediately.

“A programme of exercise and relaxation was planned for me including massage, tai chi, yoga and relaxation classes. I was sceptical about some but having received the treatments I now fully subscribe to them all. I came back to force feeling a lot better, not 100% but nearly there, and continuing with some of the techniques I learnt at Harrogate, I now find myself in a better frame of both mind and body.”

Currently around 49% of South Yorkshire officers are eligible for free support. But if you don’t make the weekly contribution of £1.30, the PTC can’t support you for free, and you can’t benefit from expertise should you need it not only now, but also in retirement.

When you sign up there is normally an initial waiting time of 12 months before you can access treatment. However, if you sign up during the PTC’s national Recruitment Campaign running from April to June, you will receive amnesty from this waiting time and be able to access treatment straight away.

Contact your Federation representative, Payroll department or visit www.thepolicetreatmentcentres.org to find out more.

Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “I would encourage all members to pay for the scheme. It is a fantastic facility and a relatively small sum for such an enormous resource. It is invaluable for officers – helping them to get back to work relatively quickly when they suffer minor injuries.”