health and social care – Page 2 – Saddleworth Liberal Democrats

30Sep 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

New health centre to go ahead with earnest!

On Tuesday 27th September, Shaw Parish Council’s Planning Committee approved for the new health centre to go ahead on the former bath site. Shadow Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, Crompton Councillor Louie Hamblett, spoke at the Parish Council planning committee to explain when works will go ahead, the size of the site and the likely size of each consultation room. Cllr Hamblett said: ”Because of NHS building regulations and improvements in technology, it will allow the rooms to be built smartly. Taking into account patient uses of GP’s, the intention with the plan is to box clever and give each of the practices more space than they currently have. The NHS’s aspiration is to bring together health and care services in a more integrated way. “The main priority…

28Sep 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Mini-Budget: £13 billion a year removed from NHS and social care funding

Borough news, health and social care

Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has warned that social care services “face collapse” across the country after the government’s ‘mini-budget’ scrapped the so-called NHS and social care levy (N.I increase). The plan was in the first instance the extra cash would go to the NHS and then after that go to social care. Councillor Sykes predicted at the time not a penny would reach social care and would all be absorbed by the NHS. He has been proved right and now neither the NHS nor social care will see a penny of it. Councillor Sykes said: “The government was already underfunding social care and expecting councils to foot the bill. The Chancellor’s mini budget has just added £13 billion to the shortfall. Social care urgently needs funding…

24Aug 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Council must support the 3,000 pensioners currently losing out on pension credits

Borough news, fairer council, health and social care

Shaw representative and Oldham Liberal Democrat Group Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has called on council leaders to act after it was revealed that 3,033 over-65s in Oldham are currently not receiving their full pension entitlement. The figures were uncovered in research conducted by the charity Independent Age, who say that on average, pensioners are missing out on payments of £63.54 each month. Councillor Sykes said: “Pensioners are already facing severe cost-of-living pressures with energy bills and the cost of the weekly shop rocketing, an extra £60 per month could make a massive difference. Oldham Council must play a proactive role in reaching out to and helping these pensioners claim what they are entitled to.” Independent Age research also shows that 51% of over-65s across the north of England are…

22Aug 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Government accused of crippling social care sector as waiting lists set to double by November

Borough news, health and social care

Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has criticised the government for leaving social care services to fend for themselves as waiting lists swell. 600 people per day are joining the list of people waiting to be assessed for care and support in England. A survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) suggests that almost 300,000 people are now waiting for an assessment of their needs by social workers, an increase of 90,000 (44%) in five months. Councillor Sykes said: “The government is leaving social care services £10 billion short and expecting already stretched councils to plug the gap. Social care waiting lists are getting out of control and with price hikes and a hard winter ahead, things are only going to get worse. The…

01Aug 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Lifesaving Grotton defibrillator ready for use

Borough news, health and social care

A heart defibrillator in Grotton has been brought back into use as the first community project for recently elected Councillor Alicia Marland. The casing for the defibrillator at Lido House had been broken since before lockdown and the unit was being kept in the manager’s office, meaning it was unavailable to people outside office hours, which could have meant a critical delay in providing life-saving resuscitation. Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Alicia Marland said: “I became aware of the problem while helping at the Band Contest in Grotton a few weeks ago. Looking around at how many people there were really brought home how crucial it was to make sure it was accessible for everyone, and available for the North West Ambulance Service to support people. If I were in that…

18Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Calm during Council chaos

Borough news, CSE, health and social care

In another extraordinarily chaotic Council meeting last night, councillors from all parties managed to put aside rancour for a few minutes to support a Liberal Democrat motion on child safeguarding. Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: ”The recent report into CSE in the borough is a challenge for the Council to do things differently. My motion, which was passed last night, is a straightforward response that we can do straight away – it will mean that every single time council makes a decision, it’ll be explicitly weighed against the potential risk to children and on the level of Council spending locally. “A lot of the time politics in this borough seems to be a pantomime and last night’s meeting was no exception. I’m appalled with…

18Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Oldham care homes ranked in bottom 10 in the country

Borough news, health and social care

A ‘revolution’ in social care funding is required to address Oldham’s failing care homes according to Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE. Research carried out by the online care home comparison site ‘Lottie’, found that Oldham ranked within the bottom ten local authorities for care home provision in the UK. Councillor Sykes said: “This is a damning revelation. The UK has an ageing population. It’s estimated that the demand for social care will rise 50% to nearly 1.5 million people by 2039. Yet in this year’s Queen’s Speech, the Conservative government haven’t brought forward a single measure on social care. Nothing short of a social care funding revolution is needed if we are going to address this problem. “The government must act to ensure that social care does not…

08Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Government leaves local councils £10 billion short for social care costs

Borough news, health and social care

Oldham’s Liberal Democrats have slammed Conservative ministers after research from the Conservative dominated County Councils’ Network revealed that the governments planned social care reforms would leave a £10 billion funding gap in the sector. Government Ministers had previously said that local councils would have to find their own ways to raise funds. Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE said: “While Conservative MPs worry about who the next Prime Minister will be, the real issues like social care funding are being side-lined. The government is telling councils to cover the costs when everyone knows the money isn’t there. All the while, the social care sector is haemorrhaging staff and the government won’t even listen to their own Conservative colleagues in local government.” In the wake of the pandemic and…

02Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Great news as Shaw and Crompton Health Centre redevelopment now back on track

Borough news, health and social care

The Oldham NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have announced that plans to redevelop Shaw and Crompton Health Centre are back on track after the decision to pull the plug on the development sparked interventions from local Liberal Democrat councillors. Shaw councillor Howard Sykes MBE said on behalf of all his Shaw and Crompton colleagues that the announcement from the CCG was: “long overdue and was after hours of work behind the scenes to thrash out the problems that had held the project up". Councillor Sykes continued: “This is great news for Shaw and Crompton. Access to modern healthcare facilities is a top priority for the people we represent. They deserve the security of knowing those services will be there when they need them. What we’ve had is a long and…

23Jun 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

No answers and no help on cost of energy lifesaving medical equipment

Borough news, health and social care, Parliamentary news

People in Oldham with urgent medical needs are being ignored after the rise in the energy cap has massively increased the cost of life saving energy equipment. After a resident contacted local Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani, worried about rising energy costs stopping them from running their BPAP machine which they have to use overnight, he contacted the Council to ask what support was available. There was no national support, and the Council was organising a working group to look at the problem. The working group had no timescale for reporting, and despite his requests for updates, nothing has happened in the two months since. Sam said: “I can’t understand why the response to this is a working group? Given that the cap on energy costs has been massively increased,…

Category: health and social care