Commons Touch - Busy week for Isle MP

Isle MP Andrew Percy carrying out his ambulance shift.

It certainly passed me by as I decided, once again, not to go to the Conservative Party conference last week.

It’s always an expensive affair, so I decided to save my cash and spend the week at home in the constituency door knocking and catching up on meetings.

I actually had a very interesting week, especially Saturday night when I joined the Ambulance Service for a nightshift.

Once again though, I forgot to clear the diary for the day time, so I spent all day in Crowle knocking on doors and dropping our latest update newsletter, before then heading off for the night shift.

Starting at 6pm after a full day was not something I was looking forwards to, but it turned into a great evening.

My crew mates for the evening were Gail and Andy and they both had a great way with patients.

Fortunately, Saturday wasn’t as busy as normal but we did get a fair few call outs, which meant a trip or two to local A&Es, including Scunthorpe.

As a Community First Responder volunteer, I work with a lot of ambulance crews, but it was good to spend a full shift with them.

My most significant contribution to patient care that evening seemed to be disposing of a full sick bowl!

I wasn’t able to make it to the Isle of Axholme Bridleways project board meeting last week as my car decided to fail its MOT on the same day.

However, progress is being made on opening up more of the Isle’s countryside to walkers, horse riders and cyclists.

I’ve also spent a fair bit of time in local primary schools of late.

A couple of weeks ago it was St Norbert’s to be questioned by young people on a range of issues.

I also had the chance at another school last week to try one of the new free school meals that the Government has introduced for all infant-age pupils.

Hundreds of pupils on the Isle now benefit from our initiative and the meal I had was really tasty.

I was an infant teacher until the day I was elected to Parliament in 2010, but I always forget just how small the chairs are! As such, I left school with a full belly, but an aching back!

The rest of the last week has been made up of meetings about flooding, visits to local businesses and meetings with constituents. All in all, a busy time but good fun too.