Time to stick together

As Life in Salford goes to print, it seems as though many things are falling apart in our country.

The BBC is reporting that 98% of dentists in the North West no longer take on NHS patients. Our NHS is struggling - with too few doctors and nurses, a gigantic backlog of elective surgeries and operations, and huge difficulties in receiving face-to-face appointments with GPs.

Our infrastructure and our public services are crumbling - even when there isn’t industrial action on the railway, residents in Greater Manchester could be forgiven for thinking there was, due to the sheer number of cancellations due to inadequate staffing.

Costs of food and other essentials are rising in the shops - every one of us will have felt the pinch when it comes to buying groceries.

And what’s worse, this winter we are expecting the biggest cost of living crunch in living memory, as prices for gas and electricity skyrocket.

At Salford City Council, we are reviewing our emergency services and offers in the city, working alongside the community and voluntary sector and bracing ourselves for a huge surge in requests for support. But following 12 years of austerity, local government budgets are a fraction of what they once were and we are catering for hugely increased demand.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this city made a call to our residents to support one another through our Spirit of Salford network and Community Voluntary Sector. Together, we provided emergency food packages to thousands of Salford residents, provided advice line support through our integrated Spirit of Salford helpline connecting together the council, heath and voluntary sector services.

The cost of living crisis will require no less of a response than the COVID-19 pandemic. The council will do as much as it can to support you through hard times - but we will need to once again work together to look after one another as well. The real Spirit of Salford is the people of Salford – as it has always been.

This city’s great advantage, when times get hard, is the way in which the people of our city band together and look out for one another.

So please, if you haven’t already, sign up to our emergency volunteer response team who coordinate our volunteers in the city by emailing volunteer@salfordcvs. co.uk and get involved with your local community and voluntary sector groups.

I know we will rise to the task once again.