THE MOST HEALTHY CITY IN BRITAIN

Manchester’s male life expectancy is currently the worst in England; female life expectancy is the fourth worst.  This is a scandal that Manchester Labour is determined to tackle.  We will make sure that the Labour Council and the Joint Health Unit works with primary and secondary care in the City to make improvements to services that improve people’s health.  The Labour Government is investing record amounts of money in the NHS and we want to see it making a real difference to people’s health.

For the forth year running, the life expectancy gap between Manchester and the rest of the UK has narrowed.  While life expectancy is too low, we have already exceeded our life expectancy targets for both men and women. In particular, death from heart disease continues to decline, and the food and physical activities we run complement the primary care services to address this major killer.  However, there is still much to do and we are encouraging people to seek help at an earlier stage to improve detection of cancer, targeting areas most in need with our Manchester Versus Cancer campaign.  We have entered into partnership with Macmillan Cancer support to give practical support and financial advice to cancer sufferers, and will develop this to enable people recovering from cancer to rebuild their lives and become active citizens again.  We also continue to meet our targets to help people quit smoking. Local implementation of the national smoke free public legislation has been largely trouble free.  This is a significant step towards reducing damage done by tobacco in the City.

We will work with the Labour Government to create health provision in Manchester, which is based on cooperation between the different health providers as a mechanism to elevate health development to the highest possible priority.  The concept of moving away from competition between providers to cooperation of provision should ensure improvement for all patients.  Manchester Labour has campaigned for a single Primary Care Trust for Manchester, which has now been in place since October 2006. The Council is working jointly with the PCT to promote health and well-being, keeping people well, not just treating people in crisis.  Our key priorities are tackling childhood obesity and reducing harm to health caused by alcohol. Manchester labour has worked with the Manchester Primary Trust to identify additional priorities around -Staying Healthy - Primary Care -Babies, Mothers, Children and Young People.  - Mental Health - Scheduling Care and Personalisation are to be prioritised over the next year.  This year we are working with the PCT to identify investment proposals in these priority areas, stressing the awareness of prevention and early intervention to keep people well, and delivering high quality services across the City. We are also developing first class mental health services in the city for people with severe and enduring illness and have transformed our community services in line with proposals agreed following public consultation in 2006. Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust have opened the first Emergency Services in the country for people experiencing psychosis for the first time. Manchester Labour has long campaigned for new children’s health provision at North Manchester General Hospital and has ensured that promises were kept and that all 3 major hospitals in the City continue to provide a full range of services.

Manchester is leading the way nationally in developing more personalised public services for adults needing social care.  Following successful pilots, all new customers from this year will have the opportunity to benefit from reablement services, where this is appropriate, to help regain skills for everyday living and an individual budget with which to arrange their own longer term personal support arrangements.

Health services and adult social care services target those most in need and help people live as independently as possible.  We will continue to protect the most vulnerable in our communities whilst pressing to ensure that services support people to retain their independence through work and through where they live.  In particular, we will continue to work with employment agencies to support people to gain and remain in employment.  Worklessness is a major cause of health problems in the City, and it is critical we continue to tackle this.

Manchester Labour’s aim is to make Manchester a City as well known for the quality of life for older residents as it is for young people.  We know that older residents play a vital role in our local communities and we pledge to make sure that more elderly people are able to continue living in their own homes and communities.   The Council continues to provide grants to community groups to put on events or provide activities for older people.  The aim is to bring communities together and encourage older people to live life to the full and actively participate in their neighbourhood.  This often relies on equipment and adaptations and we will ensure that the Council has no waiting list for equipment and minor adaptations. 

The Labour Government and Labour Councils have worked together to introduce free off-peak travel on bus, tram and regional rail for people over 60 and disabled people.