By Joseph Timan, Local Democracy Reporter
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham on an early morning walk-about in Manchester city centre on May 14, 2021. Credit: GMCA. Caption: Joseph Timan. Permission for reuse for all LDRS partners. IN his first four years as mayor, he was faced with a rough sleeping ‘crisis’ – now Andy Burnham says he wants to tackle the root causes of homelessness. Preparing for the economic impact of the pandemic to hit, the metro mayor has published a homelessness prevention strategy for Greater Manchester. Evictions from rented properties are still the biggest cause of homelessness in Greater Manchester, Burnham says, and with a ban on evictions set to be lifted at the end of this month, the number of homeless people could soon spike.
Rochdale Infirmary
Thousands of patients have now waited longer than a year for hospital treatment in parts of Greater Manchester due to delays caused by Covid.
More than 8,000 patients were on hospital waiting lists for longer than 12 months in Rochdale, Oldham, Bury and Salford at the end of March.
Chiefs at the Northern Care Alliance (NCA), the NHS group which runs Fairfield General, Rochdale Infirmary, Royal Oldham and Salford Royal have spoken of the ‘extraordinary’ challenge they face in tackling the backlog that has built up.
And they are preparing for more patients to come forward after the pandemic.
Chief executive Raj Jain told the board at a meeting on Monday (26 April) that this year will be like no other for the NHS as it tries to recover from Covid-19.
More than 300,000 people have been vaccinated so far in Greater Manchester Date published: 28 January 2021
Patricia O’Hara from Heywood receiving a vaccine at Rochdale Infirmary in early January
More than 300,000 people have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine so far in Greater Manchester, according to the latest figures.
As of Tuesday (26 January), 309,469 first doses of the vaccine had been administered and 96% of care homes have now been offered the vaccine.
There are around 560,000 people in the four highest priority groups which includes care home residents, health and social care staff and all over-70s.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has praised the progress of the rollout, saying the region is in a good position to reach the mid-February deadline.
Rochdale Infirmary
Hospital bosses in Greater Manchester met yesterday (21 December) for a rapid review of testing, site access and visiting rules in light of a new variant of coronavirus in the UK.
Northern Care Alliance (NCA) – the NHS group which runs hospitals and other health care services in Rochdale, Bury, Oldham and Salford – is decidng whether its infection prevention control measures must be strengthened.
It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that the new variant of the virus, which has spread quickly in London and the south east of England, could be up to 70% more transmissible than other strains of Covid-19.