Keep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here.
Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
This image taken by photographer Vince Cole at Alexandra Park, in Moss Side, sums up the current weather. Frosty and beautiful.
Of course it's not easy working, playing or just generally managing in these freezing temperatures, so remember there is help there if you need it.
In today's newsletter we're talking about the ambulance boss who last night had to issue an urgent plea as more than 600 patients waited for an ambulance.
It’s a moment Manchester Evening News editor Sarah Lester has described as 'astonishingly raw’.
We’ll also be looking at a plan to treat alcoholics with ketamine and Manchester’s ill-fated ‘super casino’. Let’s begin.
A moment to be angry
There was something extremely stark about this footage of North West Ambulance Service medical director Chris Grant standing out on a freezing December night, pleading for the public’s help.
Lit by a mobile phone, he apologised for delays and admitted 111 and 999 services were being overburdened.
“We need to keep our phone lines free. So please, only call us back if you no longer need our help or if your own condition has gotten significantly worse," he urged.
NWAS had to call in all resources to make sure those with the most life threatening conditions were prioritised. It must have been a scary moment for all involved - but I doubt it will be the last time.
Not that we haven’t had fair warning. Medics, health chiefs, patients and MPs have been preparing for, and dreading, this winter for months.
And for months we have heard that the capacity in social care is so poor that healthy patients are left languishing in hospital beds.
For many, healthcare continues to be a postcode lottery. In 2021/22, those in Bolton and Wigan waited an average of 56 minutes when calling 999 with a category two emergency - like a heart attack or stroke. In Manchester it was 43 minutes.
Ambulance staff have long warned that patients are unsafe after 'years' of underfunded and understaffed services - it’s one of the reasons they are planning strike action.
A friend of mine, whose little girl has suffered severe allergies, is always on high alert for a reaction. In reality, she would jump in the car and rush her to hospital if something happened rather than wait for an ambulance - but not everybody has that luxury.
Those caring for the elderly and the disabled can’t just scoop them up into the passenger seat, if they even have a car. Instead they live with the anxiety of wondering if an ambulance would reach them in time.
Most of us will only need an ambulance once in our life. And most of us believe, unwaveringly, that the NHS will catch us when we fall.
But now there is a huge sense of vulnerability. We know that, despite the best efforts of NHS staff, the emergency care we need may not be there on time.
This week, junior doctor Josh told The News Agents podcast he has no regrets about becoming a medic, but the NHS currently survives on ‘good will’. “You feel so undervalued,” he said.
For him, one of the hardest aspects is being at the sharp end of people’s frustrations. That’s something Dr Helen Wall first mentioned back in October 2020. “Sadly, in the past few weeks my staff have been subjected to some upsetting venting from patients," she said at the time.
There was, she said, huge public support in the early days of the pandemic but over time people became 'fatigued and irritable' and staff took the brunt. It must have come as something of a shock after we spent months clapping for the NHS and hearing rhetoric about our ‘hero’ doctors and nurses. Morale - already fragile two winters ago - must be at rock bottom now.
Given the seriousness of the situation last night, Health Minister Steve Barclay is yet to comment. Perhaps it’s easier to sweep one night of chaos under the carpet when the NHS itself is falling apart at the seams.
Surely this is a moment to be angry? A moment to insist that our children, parents, grandparents and the medics and staff trying to hold things together deserve better.
You never know when you will need emergency care - and you can’t pay for it. In that respect it’s a great leveller.
But our national health service, once the envy of the world, is broken. At the very least, we’d like the government to pay attention.
An eerie silence
It was silence and the pinch of the frost that met travellers at Manchester Piccadilly this morning.
Reporter Ethan Davies was at the train station to assess the situation as Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union members took industrial action in a row over pay and conditions.
And as Ethan writes here, very few trains pulled into the station, and only a handful of passengers walked in and out of the entrances.
One striking worker - perhaps keen to labour the point - was dressed as The Grinch while manning the picket line.
The action this week applies to staff working for Network Rail and rail operators under the ‘DfT mandate’. It will be complemented by Network Rail-only action from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27 - to hit engineering works.
There’s also further action planned for January 3, 4, 6, and 7.
Ketamine therapy
More than two million UK adults have serious alcohol problems, but only one in five get treatment. And three out of four people who quit alcohol will be back drinking heavily after a year.
It’s those kind of shocking statistics that have inspired health chiefs in Greater Manchester to sign up to a new trial.
Alcoholics receiving treatment within Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust will be given ketamine to see if it reduces alcohol dependency, as Nicole Wootton-Cane reports.
Ketamine is a licensed medical drug, widely used as an anaesthetic and in pain relief, but is also used recreationally and is classed by the Home Office as a Class B drug.
Researchers will look at whether the ketamine and therapy package reduces harmful drinking. The earlier phase of the Ketamine for Reduction of Alcohol Relapse trial found that participants who had ketamine combined with therapy stayed completely sober, representing 86 per cent abstinence in the six month follow-up.
Trial lead Professor Celia Morgan, from the University of Exeter, said alcohol-related harm is estimated to cost the NHS around £3.5 billion each year. “We urgently need new treatments,” she said. "If this trial establishes that ketamine and therapy works, we hope we can begin to see it used in NHS settings."
Recruitment for the trial will start mid-way through 2023.
A one-off moment of madness
Swimmers who took an after-dark dip in the freezing waters of Salford Quays are ‘lucky to be alive’, according to one local leader.
Video footage of two men in trunks drying off at around 7pm on Sunday night - when temperatures were below freezing - shows them on a pontoon close to the water sports centre.
Coun Barbara Bentham, of Salford Council, told local democracy reporter Nick Jackson, she was shocked by the footage.
“If these two young men are experienced cold water swimmers then going into the Quays in the dark by themselves on a freezing December night is utterly reckless. If they are not trained to swim in cold water then they are lucky to be alive,” she said.
Warning of cold water shock, she said she hopes it was ‘a one-off moment of madness’. The council has stepped up CCTV camera patrols covering the Quays and dangerous activity will be reported to police.
A window on the work
As skilled artisans continue repairing and restoring Manchester Town Hall, people will be offered a glimpse into their work at a new studio on Albert Square.
The artisan studio will literally give the public a window into some of the work taking place on the Our Town Hall project.
The public will be able to watch and listen as specialists carry out painstaking and intricate work while explaining what they are doing and how they forged their own careers.
Demonstrations take place every Wednesday from 12.30pm-1.30pm up to and including Wednesday December 21, resuming in early 2023.
First up will be Stone Edge, explaining the story of the stone as they carve ornate new pieces to replace worn and damaged stonework from the town hall.
Councillor Luthfur Rahman, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said: “We wanted to open up a window on this work and let people see for themselves the care, attention and expertise which are going into this huge undertaking. I’m sure the artisan studio will offer a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight.”
The artisan studio is on Albert Square, opposite Brazennose Street.
Weather etc
Wednesday: Clear. 2C.
Trains: Changes to services due to strike action on Tuesday Dec 13 and Wednesday Dec 14. More here.
Manchester headlines
-
Part time: Greater Manchester's deputy mayor will continue working part-time in a new role for at least six months after she stands down at the start of the new year. Baroness Beverley Hughes will formally resign from the role responsible for police, crime, the criminal justice system and the fire service on January 9, with outgoing Trafford MP Kate Green set to take over. But Baroness Hughes will continue working part-time in a new 'assistant deputy mayor' position to be created as part of the transition arrangements - paid at the same rate, but on a part-time basis. More here.
-
Evidential paradise: A woman involved in a lucrative drug racket was busted by police after they caught her bagging up crack cocaine inside a flat. Courtney Larkin, 25, was discovered sitting on the floor surrounded by huge amounts of the class A drug in both rock and powder form, thought to be worth over £100,000. Police raided the property on Stonecliffe Terrace in Stalybridge, and caught Larkin weighing and cutting the drug. Detectives described the bust as 'evidential paradise'. Larkin pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and was sentenced jailed for four years and eleven months at Manchester Crown Court on Monday.
-
Gross misconduct: A Greater Manchester Police officer bombarded victims of domestic violence with ‘flirtatious’ and ‘inappropriate’ messages after he'd been called out to their homes, a misconduct panel heard. PC Richard O'Connell formed personal and sexual relationships with vulnerable women who were victims of crime, who he'd met after responding to emergency calls between 2011 and 2018. PC O'Connell told a misconduct hearing he had a problem with alcohol and sent many of the messages whilst drunk, but no medical evidence was provided. The panel concluded his behaviour constituted gross misconduct. The officer has since left the force, but would have been dismissed if he was still a serving officer. He was also placed on the barred list.
-
Hiding: A Greater Manchester Police officer has been sacked after she was found hiding in a wardrobe during a raid. PC Elaine Taylor was found by her own colleagues as a search warrant was carried out on January 8, 2020. She had 'full knowledge' that a wanted person was also in the address, police said, but chose to 'ignore' this and was found trying to hide. PC Taylor - who served on the Bolton division - has been found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed from the force without notice.
'Does Manchester want our sea too?'
Nostalgia writer Lee Grimsditch has been looking back on Manchester’s ill-fated ‘super casino’. Plans for the attraction at Eastlands - which would have rivalled those in Las Vegas - caused controversy back in 2007 and were eventually scrapped.
But the whole matter caused much ill feeling among leaders in Blackpool, who were furious that Manchester was chosen.
The resort town’s then mayor, Allan Matthews, said: "I'm very angry Manchester has been chosen. It can look elsewhere for regeneration, but we cannot - tourism is all we have. Does Manchester want our sea, and our tower? It might as well have it all.”
You can read all about it here.
Worth a read
Jackie Nulty needs an urgent MRI scan for a 'possible brain tumour' - but she’s been told she's too overweight.
The mum-of-two has been suffering with excruciating migraines, dizziness and an inability to concentrate since the start of October, and was referred by her GP for a scan to check if her symptoms are due to a brain tumour, or another serious illness.
But the 33-year-old, from Audenshaw, claims she's been passed around local NHS services and seven weeks after first attending her doctor's surgery, she still hasn't had a scan.
She claims after weeks of hassling her GP, she was referred for an MRI screening at a community clinic. But hours before her appointment, was told she is over the weight limit and would not be able to use the machine.
Reporter Sophie Halle-Richards has been speaking to Jackie about her treatment, here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
If you have enjoyed this newsletter today, why not tell a friend how to sign up?
