Does Salford not care?

The absence of Salford City Council representatives on the Northern Care Alliance scrutiny committee is a significant oversight and has potential ramifications for the quality of healthcare services and the overall well-being of Salford residents, says Oldham Liberal Democrat Councillor Louie Hamblett.

Cllr Hamblett, who is the current chair of the Joint Overview Scrutiny for Northern Care Alliance, said: “On a number of occasions we have written to Salford Council to ask when they will be sending representatives to join other councils like Oldham, Bury and Rochdale to sit and scrutinise the Northern Care Alliance the organisation that runs the main hospitals in our towns and delivers the main care to our residents.”

Cllr Hamblett continued : “The committee’s effectiveness is greatly reduced with the absence of Salford City Council’s perspective, and this could impact the scrutiny committee's ability to comprehensively assess the Northern Care Alliance's performance and to identify areas for improvement. The absence of Salford’s presence could result in biased decision-making processes that may not adequately address the needs of their community.”

Cllr Paul Heilbron, from Salford Liberal Democrats, finished by saying: “The Labour controlled Council has repeatedly been asked for participants on the Northern Care Alliance scrutiny committee and has failed to provide them. This is a clear dereliction of duty. It is only now, when Liberal Democrats have got involved, that Labour has woken up. Are care provisions not a priority for them?

”The Salford Liberal Democrat councillors are ready and waiting to take up the positions to provide the representation that Salford deserves.”