From the Canal to Sevenways

Category: Health

  • An affliction wasn’t in the deal to become an NHS governor, but…

    An affliction wasn’t in the deal to become an NHS governor, but…

    My term as Trafford’s representative on the governing body of Manchester Universtity NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) began on the 20th September. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances I found myself accompanying my partner to Trafford General’s Urgent Care Centre on that day. So I had to miss the MFT AGM. I didn’t know it at the time, but it wasn’t going to be my last involvement as a service user.

    Ten days later on the 30th September I suffered a heart attack during the last half mile of a Parkrun at Stretford. That was the Saturday. By the Tuesday I was having a stent inserted at Manchester Royal.

    I’ve since learned that it’s not a mandatory requirement for new MFT governors to have subjected themselves to life reviving procedures as part of their induction onto the governing body, but I tell you it really underlines the importance of this institution to our lives.

    MFT is the single largest Foundation Trust in the country, with 10 hospitals and community services located across Manchester and Trafford. It’s largest employer in Greater Manchester. It’s an internationally important research facility as well as being our premier acute care provider. It matters.

    The governing body’s role to hold the Board of Directors to account. So whilst I’ve had a lot of induction meetings, the first business meeting I could formerly observe as governor was Monday the 13th’s Board Meeting.

    The board papers were a hefty 387 pages long, so I can only pick out a few highlights.

    Top 3 concerns

    Mark Cubbon MFT’s CEX provided his top 3 current concerns:

    Financial Position

    Our financial position, whilst still very difficult, has stabilised in Months 5 and 6. We continue to take appropriate action to deliver improvements to our run-rate throughthe application of enhanced controls, delivering improvements in productivity, and through the delivery of further waste reduction. We are on track to deliver £116m of waste reduction and we have a plan to deliver £136m by the end of the financial year. We remain committed to the delivery of our plan, and while we have seen an improvement in our position, significant risks remain.

    Impact of Industrial Action

    Industrial action continues to present challenges for our patients and staff, as well as having an impact on our operational efficiency. Should further episodes occur in the coming months this will present additional significant risks to our plans to reduce waiting times for our patients and could also impact on efforts to address our financial position, as outlined above.

    While taking every reasonable step to reduce the impact on our patients, it has been necessary for MFT to stand-down and rebook circa 18,400 appointments across 8 periods of industrial action since the beginning of April 2023.

    Clearly we need government to modify its demands for real-terms pay cuts from staff.

    Winter Preparedness

    Preparation for the winter period is a key focus for our clinical and operational teams as we are likely to see increased pressures across acute and community services with associated impact on bed capacity and flow in our emergency departments. It is imperative that we have robust plans in place to monitor and respond to surges and ensure that we are working collaboratively both internally and with local partners to safeguard our patients and operational resilience.

    Elective capacity will be protected as much as possible over winter months through the optimisation of Trafford as our elective surgical hub.

    Trafford General perfomance will thus be key in the trust’s efforts to reduce waiting times.

    Other Snippets

    Hive / MyMft

    Getting the Trust’s IT optimised has been a key component of the drive for efficiency. Hive is the electronic patient record that’s been introduced, replacing a lot of disparate systems. It’s now live. There’s still some ironing out but the board is hopeful of it delivering a better system for staff and for patients.

    MyMft is the patient facing app. The takeup from users has already reached 300,000. I know from my own experience that I’m getting almost a letter a day in connection with my treatment. There’s huge savings to be made by using the app to deliver.

    It makes me smile that it provides electronic check-ins for appointments. It should allow for better use of the practitioner’s time as we move forward. Some of the routine questions like whether there’s any change to medication can be better handled by app.

    Hospital at Home

    I want to understand more about this ambition but the intention is to have more patients getting ‘hospital care’ in their home or in community settings. It could really help with winter pressures.

    Recruitment

    MfT being the largest hospital trust in the country is an attractive place to work. It’s a place with cutting edge research that enhances careers as well as patient outcomes. The board welcomed the appointment of 31 new consultants across the trust.

    Finally,

    This is just a taster of things going on. The full report is here and can be downloaded.

    Touch wood, I seem to be recovering well from my heart attack. I’m taking short bicycle rides and making sure I exercise daily. I’m trying to lose some weight too, I’m just eating at meal times and I’ve completely stopped snacking. The scales don’t seem to be shifting as much as I’d hoped but it’s early days.

    I’d had hints prior to the heart attack of something not being right and I wish I’d been more assertive in getting it checked. So my advice is make sure you have your check-ups. I can see that heart attacks are no respecter of sex or age.

  • Why are cycle lanes happening, Everywhere?

    Why are cycle lanes happening, Everywhere?

    A voter asks

    Can you tell me what you think of the situation with regard to cycle lanes, which are being increased by a very large number all around Stretford, Trafford and most other surrounding areas?

    It is a driver’s worst nightmare and it no longer matters when you are travelling. There used to be a certain build-up of traffic in the peak times, but now there is a build-up of traffic all day. This is due in my opinion to a four-lane road being turned into a two-lane road, which seems to be done with very little realistic thinking.

    Question asked by voter in response to election material

    So, why are we doing this?

    This is a question about cycling lanes being asked by so many drivers. I really feel it needs answering and I genuinely feel there are some good reasons so let’s set the context.

    Right across Europe, US and Asia, cities are installing cycling infrastructure. It can’t just be on the whim of politicians like Andy Burnham or Boris Johnson.

    Boris Johnson on a bike
    Boris Johnson
    Andy Burnham, Andrew Western, Chris Boardman and Beryl Executives
    Andy Western, Andy Burnham and Chris Boardman

    There’s even a bike on the front cover of Trafford Labour’s Manifesto

    There isn’t a single answer but the reasons are manifold including:

    • Health
    • Carbon Reduction
    • Air Quality
    • Congestion

    I’m going to go through these reasons individually and hopefully bring that together in Trafford’s strategy.

    Health

    Modern life styles are so reduced in physical activity, it is having a detrimental effect on healthy lifespans. Over the last 30 years, deaths and disability from cardiovascular disease have been steadily rising across the globe. In 2019 alone, the condition, which includes heart disease and stroke, was responsible for a staggering one-third of all deaths worldwide.
    The main thing we need to do about it is to walk* more. Whether it is working from home or our dependence on cars, we’ve got to move more.
    *I deliberately put the emphasis on walking. Whilst cycling and walking infrastructure is linked, we are not putting enough thought into making a walk to the school or shops an easy option.
    As Covid has exacerbated this. I think it’s fair to say to we would want to improve walking and cycling whether Government was leaning on us or not, but the fact is Government is leaning on us to do it.

    Carbon Reduction

    We’re obligated under international treaties particularly COP to reduce our carbon emissions. Globally, the transport sector is a huge contributor to those emissions and one that is seen as being comparatively easier to tackle but with significant positive side effects if we do.

    Air Quality

    The Government has directed Greater Manchester to meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide on local roads “in the shortest possible time” and by 2026 at the latest. The Government still wants a charging zone for polluting vehicles but Manchester is resisting having got its fingers burnt. Let’s be honest, it was an awful initial plan, putting most of the charge on business vehicles that had to be used regardless of whether there were public transport alternatives or not. Essentially, there’s now a standoff between the government and Manchester, but clearly promoting cycling is an easy win in this, supported by both Govt and the Combined Authority.

    Congestion

    Bikes do not cause congestion, traffic does. Greater Manchester has been suffering congestion for decades. Drivers will point to cycle lanes but there are so many roads without cycling infrastructure and that are still congested. Bikes are ultimately part of the solution rather than the problem.

    Personal Example
    I’m a keen City fan and try to get to a decent number of home games. If I’m travelling alone I’ll use the bike. The roads through central and east Manchester become chock-full, yet there’s no cycling infrastructure worthy of the name on that side of Manchester. As a 64 year old man, I can easily beat my neighbours home on my bike even though they leave early to avoid the worst of the congestion. If I went in the car, I’d simply be adding another car to that congestion. By going by bike, I am helping to reduce the congestion, cycling does not cause congestion.

    Regardless of bike infrastructure, this congestion is hugely detrimental to Manchester. It’s costing businesses millions. It is costing Manchester investment too in investment. And here I return to walking because I can’t emphasise enough how critical good walking infrastructure is.

    Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer who I have huge respect for argues that in addition to the health and environmental benefits mentioned above, walkable neighbourhoods caused

    • Increased property values: Walkable neighbourhoods are in high demand, and as a result, properties in these areas tend to have higher values than those in less walkable areas. Walkability can also help attract new businesses to an area, further increasing property values.
    • Increased economic activity: Walkable neighbourhoods often have more small, locally-owned businesses, which can help to create a sense of community and increase economic activity in the area.
    • Increased social capital: Walkable neighbourhoods can foster a sense of community and social connection, which can have positive impacts on mental health and overall quality of life.

    To summarise why we’re doing it

    • We’re doing it because Government is telling us to do it
    • We’re doing it because many of us (but not all) across all the main parties (and I do mean all) believe in doing it for all the reasons above.

    So how are we doing in Trafford?

    We published the Walking, Wheeling and Cycling Strategy in March 2023 which includes our overall goal that over the next 10 years

    • 90% of journeys under 1 mile will be taken by foot or wheeled
      equipment (e.g. cycles, scooters, wheelchairs, mobility scooters).
    • 80% of journeys under 5 miles will be taken by foot or wheeled
      equipment (e.g. cycles, scooters, wheelchairs, mobility scooters).

    That is hugely ambitious when you consider that the Greater Manchester’s figures for 2019 were:

    • Car or taxi: 55% of trips
    • Public transport (including buses, trains, and trams): 27% of trips
    • Walking: 11% of trips
    • Cycling: 2% of trips

    So we do have to get a move on. The Talbot Road / Stretford Road cycleway was largely in place or committed to when we in Labour came into control of Trafford. Then Covid came along and triggered the A56 cones to be installed as an emergency measure primarily to get people to work without placing them in the then-considered hazardous environment of public transport. The government insists it doesn’t will not fund local authorities who rip out the infrastructure already funded by the government so that has left us with coned areas of the A56 that please no one.

    That said, there have been too many projects abandoned after considerable in-house work has been committed to them. We need to get better and the recent appointment of Councillor Aidan Williams as the responsible Executive Member has helped enormously, but we’re still getting some unfathomable decisions elsewhere in the council such as the failure to resurface the full width of Talbot Road and leaving the cycle lanes on the same road in a poor state of repair. We’ve made the commitment to walking and cycling – people will just get sceptical as to what we’re doing if we don’t stick with it.

    Going back to the original question, we’re not yet seeing the big increase in cycling in Stretford we need to justify the policy and we won’t until it’s joined up. A journey to Manchester, Chorlton or Eccles entails too many sections that are actually quite scary and until there’s an accommodation for the inexperienced cyclist, we’re not going to see that increase. It’s hard not to sympathise with the voter who raised this question. We need that acceleration in the policy.

    Lostock and Barton Ward

    The Talbot Road / Stretford Cycleway is often cited amongst Greater Manchester’s better pieces of cycling infrastructure, but for me, Barton Dock Road is the best and it’s in the ward. It is everything cycling infrastructure should be. It doesn’t interfere with traffic but gets you there on the most direct route. The Trafford Centre and particularly Asda could do much better in accommodating bikes when you arrive at the destination, but there’s no denying the quality of the Barton Dock Road cycle path.
    In choosing walking for short trips the position is more mixed, to put it mildly. Walking has a huge advantage over driving in getting across the railway line from Lostock to Derbyshire Lane, but the upkeep of the Humphrey Park Station tunnel is so appalling and inaccessible to wheelchairs. It usually is in a squalid state of cleanliness. We can do so much better with what is an essential route for parents and school children in particular.
    Similarly getting across some of our minor, but busy roads on foot or in a wheelchair is far more difficult than it should be. The crossings give so much priority to cars. It should be a given that drains next to crossings are prioritised but they’re not. The crossing at the Melville is too often a wade through a large puddle, after you’ve got splashed by cars first obviously.

    So my Lostock and Barton priorities for active travel are:

    • Making the Park Road/Derbyshire Lane junction safe for pedestrians
    • Working with the GM Mayor’s office, Trafford, and Northern Rail on Humphrey Park subway to make it accessible
    • Pursuing improvements to the route from Lostock Park to Trafford Park
    • Working with Asda to improve their cycle accessibility from the roundabout and into the parking area
    • Working with colleagues to ensure that the Urmston Active Neighbourhood has clear objectives impacting on the Lostock and Barton neighbourhoods
    • Looking at all crossings to ensure they meet the needs of those crossing the road in terms of maintenance and responsiveness.
    • Looking at bus routes to ensure our neighbourhoods are connected to the places they want to go to
    • Looking at bus stops so they’re clean and comfortable

    Trafford Manifesto

    Trafford Labour’s 2023 manifesto sets out our general policy priorities.

    Trafford under Labour will work with partners and communities to ensure Trafford’s streets are safer and have accessible walking and cycling routes.
    Under Labour £20m is being invested in improving our walking and cycling routes.
    Continue to work with local communities to help establish Play Street schemes, where children can play safely together, free from traffic.
    Commit to ensuring that children in Trafford can get to and from school safely in an environment that supports walking, cycling, and other forms of cleaner transport by rolling out School Streets.

  • Putting Children back to first priority

    Putting Children back to first priority

    I am really pleased that Andy Western – leader of Trafford Council has made the comments I’m sharing below.

    It’s something I’ve been uncomfortable with since the outset of the first lockdown. I was never happy that schools were shut down. With hindsight, I can see we needed a pause to get on top of the virus. However, I was very supportive of Kate Green’s stance that children needed to be back at school at the earliest date. She took flack for that position.

    It’s never been the loss of examinations that’s been my prime concern. With the right provision of lifelong learning, this can be addressed; and maybe even improved upon, as we’ve never been good at it. Now it’s imperative, perhaps at last we can dream of the universal provision we dreamt about when Labour created the ‘Open University’.

    I agree with Andy that it’s the loss of socialisation skills and friendship forming that’s the real worry. We’re seeing an increased prevalence of mental health problems and worsening anti-social behaviour. I sense there’s a stronger element of pure anger contained within the motivations for that behaviour than I have seen before. I get that anger. I get angry at those who pontificate at parents for the reaction their children are demonstrating.

    It’s something that we’re going to have to address and there’s an urgent need for the conversation to really get started. That conversation has primarily to be driven by the young people and we need to find new ways of getting the voice of those most at risk from problems we’ve created. The catchup plan needs to be owned by those children and it needs to continue to be owned by them as they move through their life. We owe it to them.

  • Happy New Year to you all

    Happy New Year to you all

    A few predictions for this time of year seems to be the tradition. I’m optimistic.

    Covid

    I think we’re going to have a difficult few weeks with covid but spring is going to look so much better for those who keep up their vaccination. It will never go away but we’ll find it far more manageable with minimal impact on daily lives. Just to reiterate though, January/February will be horrible.

    Healthcare

    As covid normalises, trade unions will take a hard look at the equality of health provision. In 2023 it will not be defensible for the lowest rates of vaccination to be amongst ethnic minorities and manual trades.

    (Trade Unions generally will be playing a bigger direct role in 2023 – and we’ll all be better for it)

    Big wish – That we see a new health facility in the Gorse Hill/Firswood Area

    Stretford

    I suspect the focus will shift to the Canalside area. We’ve only had one or two artist impressions of people relaxing on the side of the canal. We need to see how this area can be brought to life and importantly, how it relates to and complements the work on the Mall.

    Manchester United

    Man U will be putting some meat on the bones of their plans to modernise and enlarge the stadium. I really hope Trafford’s leadership is not bought off with promises of ‘jam tomorrow’. Residents around the stadium have seen it all before. There needs to be a paradigm shift in how Man U connects with its neighbours both here and greater Old Trafford; and Salford too. There’s a real opportunity to place residents to the front of negotiations before officers agree to the bulk of Man U’s demands.

    Big wish: That Manchester United places itself hand in hand in collaboration with residents and local businesses to develop a masterplan that puts Man U as a catalyst for a neighbourhood enhanced by them rather than impaired.

    Education

    I’m biased, but I believe that it was a huge error removing Kate Green from Labour’s education portfolio. Strategic thinking on how we address the twin challenges of Brexit and Covid is vital; and far more important than parliamentary bluster. Personally, I think this is an area that Andy Burnham needs to seize. We vitally need a skilled up work force that can compete internationally. Covid has been hugely damaging to a generation and yet it’s the aspect of levelling up that gets the least attention. The impact on children in Lostock and Gorse Hill has been far greater than Hale and Timperley and it needs addressing.

    Big Wish 1- that we start publicising 11+ pass rates of schools. We’ve always been too polite and discreet about this but it allows certain schools to push the boundary of coaching. You will only see progress if you expose how inherently unfair it is to certain schools and their pupils.

    Big Wish 2 – that we make an irresistible demand for a huge investment in Further Education. It’s never been more important to make lifelong learning routinely available to all.

    Transport

    Active Travel is going to continue to be controversial but it’s also going to edge forwards. We can’t have Stretford’s motorway restored to how it was; and a bus lane doesn’t help Stretford, or buses particularly there. We’ve got to make crossing our roads much easier and less stressful.

    Nevertheless we are expecting work to start this year on the Greatstone Road/Talbot Road junction. Much needed as it’s been far too grim for pedestrians trying to cross Greatstone Road without a phase for them to cross safely.

    I have quite a few on my wish list in this area but it’s worth pointing out that they’re all predominately for pedestrians. We really should have prioritised walking before cycling and I say that as a cyclist. No one cycles before they can walk and we’ve made it so difficult to get around on foot, it’s no wonder we use cars for ridiculously short journeys.

    Big wish 1: That Trafford takes a strategic decision to make all crossings provide improved priority to pedestrians. Too many force the pedestrian to stand at the kerb, getting sprayed by cars for too long.

    Big wish 2: A Chester Road crossing close to Gorse Hill Park. It’s awful having to cross there without any infrastructure but parents and children have to do it daily. Long overdue.

    Big wish 3: Pedestrian phase for Park Road / Derbyshire Lane – I think it’s now on the list but needs pressure from Trafford to maintain its place.

    Big wish 4: Safe pedestrian crossing for Raglan Road to Davyhulme Road at Fiveways. Clearly, I live on Raglan Road so I haven’t prioritised this one. However, since I’m going and daily have to chance my life against traffic from all directions, I’m going to include it in this my last wish list as councillor.

    Big wish 5: Humphrey Park Station Tunnel : Complicated ownership/responsibility but this is such a valuable and well used pedestrian route between Lostock and Humphrey Lane and yet it’s in disgraceful nick. It doesn’t have disabled access, it collects rain and muck and it’s poorly lit. It can’t be beyond the wit of Trafford and Northern Rail/Network Rail to come together and sort it.

    Big wish 6: A Melville Crossing beg button that works when there’s moving traffic. Not much point in having a controlled crossing if it waits until there’s no traffic before working.

    Big wish 7: And this one really irritates. I wish we could lock Highways Agency, Trafford Council and TfGM in a room with a PC operating Street View to check every route from Junction 7 on the M60 for road signage to enable HGVs to find a sensible route to Trafford Park. I am sick to the back teeth of 30 ton HGVs getting lost in residential streets because there’s no signs once they’re off main route from junction 9 Parkway. I wouldn’t let them out of the room until they’d sorted it.

    Gorse Hill Park, Fiveways, Humphrey Park, Melville

    Amey

    I think I dealt with this in my previous blog post. I don’t think we’re going to get from the seven year review the community engagement that we really need and was promised at outset. I do think it’s the only meaningful way we’ll achieve the focused service we need. There has been some improvement on occasions. I like the way that Stretford Litter Pickers has been able to work with Amey. I think that’s largely because Stretford Litter Pickers are more determined than most and all credit to them.

    Parks

    Too many parks have lost their swings. It’s vital we get investment. I worry so much about what covid has done to a generation of kids. At least give them park equipment to play on. We’ve locked them up for too long.

    Liar Johnson is leaving the building

    He’s going isn’t he? No one can survive their reputation being shredded the way that his has been over parties, expenses and his own arbitrary rules that he doesn’t pretend to stand by. The local elections will see him off and Labour will be cock-a-hoop.

    Labour needs to be careful though. Johnson is the main reason Labour’s polling has improved. I am not sure Starmer’s inner circle are taking the right messages from this improvement in polling. I’m not sure it’s helpful to know what type of car they think Starmer is.

    Lastly (and I mean it)

    It’s always useful to list priorities. You’ve always come back at me to add a few more. I’ve always enjoyed that.

    The fact that some of these priorities would have been listed when I first became a councillor I think says more about the way Council operates in its own bubble. Unless you have access to officers, you’re rarely going to make headway and that access has never been more at a premium than it is now.

    However, I’ve only got about 10 more weeks as a councillor. So these will be someone else to pick up or not and that’s right. Generally, I am optimistic.

    One of the things I think has really improved is community strength and identity. In Gorse Hill we’ve had the lantern parade and it was great. Stretford has been doing its advent windows for a few years now. I saw this week that Wigan had an annual fancy dress on Boxing Day. These locally based quirks are great and are a real hope that we can have neighbourhoods that are different and flourishing.

  • Can Covid be in the past whilst rates soar?

    Can Covid be in the past whilst rates soar?

    Answer: Possibly not, but it’s not our biggest problem right now

    For a long time I have been keeping a close watch of hospital admissions in the north west and also deaths. Those figures have been gently coming down for a few months. So, I must admit I hadn’t for quite a while been following the number of cases in Trafford until a week or so ago, and it was quite a shock that they’d deteriorated so quickly.

    I was participating in the Covid-19 public engagement board this morning. It’s a forum for getting out key messages to support controlling the pandemic in Trafford. The Chair had some strong words in his opening that Trafford was currently suffering its highest incidence of Covid cases and was sat at the top of Greater Manchester rankings with the situation worsening. He felt that the Government were treating the pandemic as over when clearly the figures said the opposite. That’s a dilemma for me as I would argue the emphasis now should switch to repairing the damage.

    Covid rates Trafford to October 2021

    Clearly the figures are striking and I can understand the consternation caused when generally we’ve never been worse than mid-table in our performance in combatting covid. That said, whilst the overall Trafford figure is high, what we appear to be seeing is a suburban surge throughout Greater Manchester particularly in the south of the conurbation. And we’re almost getting a doughnut effect. So what’s going on?

    The current surge is very much focused on the age cohorts between 5 and 19 and secondly, the typical age cohort of those children’s parents. It’s those schools in the middle that have the greatest travelling around, which perhaps explains the doughnut ring effect. So lot’s of mixing, travelling and socialising.

    This is not to diminish the impact of covid on these young people but we have good vaccination rates. At the same time I’m seeing so many indications of far more detrimental aspects of the 18 months of lockdown than the endemic nature of covid. This is why I’d switch the emphasis.

    You might disagree with me but right now I’m more concerned with the levels of absenteeism in secondary schools across the country. That’s just one indicator but there’s many more and it’ll take years to understand the true costs of the decisions we’ve taken to combat covid but school attendance has certainly been affected.

    Samuel Freedman is a educational analyst

    I worry too about future levels of loneliness. That short period of adolescence into (wom)manhood between 14-18 is incredibly formative and vital and we’ve locked those young people up for long periods of lockdown, forbidden them from mixing.

    People complain about the levels of anti-social behaviour but it’s remarkable to me that we’ve not seen more and worse. I worry that we’re storing up problems for years particularly when combined with damaged education delivery.

    So it’s a difficult position we’re in. I do not want the Government to do more in respect of direct Covid support than they are doing. I think our job is to make the vaccine easily available. We never quite managed that in the north of the borough and there’s no longer going to be a huge return on giving easy access, but there’s booster delivery to focus on. We need to continue to provide support to care homes and those isolating. The Government should focus on providing financial more support to those who are ill or isolating but no more talk of lockdowns unless a future variant really turns this badly around.

    The real thrust of our response should now be on supporting young people. We owe them restitution to enable them to build rewarding lives.

    I just want to make this point. Covid has given rise to lots of wartime comparisons. My parents would have been adolescents at the start of the war. They went through a lot and lost friends and family but they came out of it proud and feeling enhanced by what they went through. This is not the same for the kids who have been through Covid. There is no wartime comparison.

    My worry is that actually we’ve diminished the generations under 40, at times we’ve even blamed them, which I find incredible. I don’t expect them to ever look on lockdowns fondly or with any pride.

    Lastly, I say this. Given the damage that Covid and the measures we’ve been forced into, if you’ve not been vaxxed and there’s no medical or age reason stopping you, then shame on you. I don’t particularly have a view on vaccine passports but be assured of this, any scepticism is purely practical and should in no way be interpreted as sympathy for those who choose not to be vaxxed. Jurgen Klopp is right that it should be viewed with the same contempt as drink driving.

  • Covid is not done with us yet

    Covid is not done with us yet

    Latest Covid figures are bleak

    Purely, in terms of cases, we’re hitting a new peak. Locally, the number of Covid infections has gone through the roof compared to how it was just a few weeks ago. Your chance of coming into contact with the disease in Gorse Hill or Lostock is greater now than it’s ever been.

    Latest (2nd July) data for the three Gorse Hill Ward output areas

    Whilst the numbers being admitted to hospital are low, they are growing and worryingly the northwest’s number of covid patients requiring mechanical ventilation has risen six-fold in the past 6 weeks. So these are stark figures.

    Get your jab

    Maddeningly, we know that the vaccine works to reduce hospitalisations. So this is a plea to you to get your jabs. The vaccine is available to everyone 18+. If you’re registered with a GP, you can book through the national booking service. For those that can’t use the booking service, there are vaccination drop-in sessions advertised on the Manchester City Council website. https://secure.manchester.gov.uk/info/500362/covid-19/8079/covid-19_vaccination_programme/5. You can just turn up and will usually get your jab.

    Freedom Day

    In less than two weeks most of the restrictions we have had imposed on us to combat Covid are lifted. I desperately want July 19 to be a success but you need to get your jabs if you’ve not already done so.