Council's social care team help to spread the festive spirit

Oldham Council’s Social Care team have been doing their bit to ensure vulnerable residents are safe and prepared for the holiday period.

Staff spent the week before Christmas contacting almost 3,000 local citizens in a massive ring-round exercise.

Checks were made that people’s heating was working and that each had food and any medicines they needed to get them through the holidays.

Most people who were contacted told staff they had relatives or friends who would be dropping in to check on their wellbeing and help with essential tasks.

In a few cases, however, some people had nobody to help and the Social Care team quickly arranged for staff to pop in and help out with chores such as shopping and clearing their pathways of snow.

Councillor Jackie Stanton, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health, said: “The Social Care team tell me that they got a very warm reaction from virtually everyone that that they spoke to.”

“Residents were delighted to know that someone is thinking about them and taking care to check that they are going to be okay.

”I would urge all citizens to remember that some of your neighbours – especially the elderly – can be very vulnerable over the festive and New Year holiday period, especially in inclement weather.

”Just knocking on someone’s door to check that they are okay could make a vital difference, so please take a few minutes to check on your neighbours and spread some community spirit.”