Exclusive: Medical director quits as problems mount at the Northern Care Alliance
Chris Brookes oversaw hospitals in Salford, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury
Dear members — welcome to your Thursday edition. Today we have back-to-back scoops coming in from Bury, where a “low-traffic neighbourhood” initiative has been axed, and from Salford, where we can report that the medical director at one of the country’s biggest hospital trusts has left his role ahead of what is expected to be a damning report from the Care Quality Commission. As always, Thursday is a members’ edition, but regular Millers can read the top of the email.
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Your Mill briefing
Bury Council is about to scrap its plans for a Low Traffic Neighbourhood in Prestwich, a source has told The Mill. We broke the news in July that the council would likely spike the scheme after botching the engagement process with local residents. Now Nick Hubble, a Prestwich resident, says he has seen comments from the council’s environment lead, councillor Alan Quinn, appearing to confirm this. Hubble requested an update on the scheme from the council in late November and early this month, the council's head of engineering responded "There was a meeting a few weeks ago to determine whether this scheme will be taken forward" and that the council would be issuing a press release about it soon. A week later, Hubble found out Quinn had allegedly said “that there would not be good news” in that press release, explaining that “turnout was too low to proceed with any scheme”. In light of the revelations in our original report, Hubble asked the council to confirm that the scheme would be scrapped at a full council meeting in July. “The question was referred to councillor Alan Quinn for a response,” Hubble tweeted. “No decision has been taken,” Quinn is alleged to have said. “Either the Council are bluffing or The Mill has been misinformed.” Hubble is incandescent: “They seem to have sat on this for five months, apparently knowing full well what the decision was going to be and are sneaking the final outcome when everyone is too busy with Xmas to notice.”
The regulator of social housing has found that Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) failed to "treat Awaab Ishak's family with fairness and respect". In 2020, the 2-year-old died of a respiratory condition caused by mould in the flat his family rented from RBH. They had made repeated complaints about the mould in the flat, but no action was taken. The regulator found "significant failings in the way RBH deals with damp and mould" and that they waited nearly two years after Awaab's death to check for damp and mould in its other properties. As a result of the regulators findings, RBH have been downgraded to the second lowest grading for housing providers, meaning they have breached standards.
Six officials at the Chinese consulate in Manchester, including the consul general, have been recalled to China following the assault of a pro-Hong Kong demonstrator in October. It appears to follow pressure from the British government. As the BBC reports: “UK officials made clear the embassy was fully aware that if the diplomats did not agree to take part in the police investigation, then there would be consequences. This is likely to have included the men being declared persona non grata and expelled from the UK. Instead, China has chosen to avoid that outcome by recalling the diplomats themselves.”
"The Underbanks is still a work in progress, but word is out that, like Manchester’s Northern Quarter in the 1990s, this is an enclave of relatively affordable space where people are doing interesting things" writes Tony Naylor for the Guardian, in a guide to Stockport's burgeoning cultural scene. Labelled "one of the coolest corners of the country" by the Times, the town has seen a steady proliferation of independent vintage stores, creative studios and restaurants. Tom Ogden, the lead singer of the Stockport band Blossoms, is set to open a speak-easy style bar in the town with his wife. "Stockport definitely feels like it has a new lease of life," he says, "the Underbanks has something special in the air."
Help us out: What does the Trafford Centre mean to you? We'd love to hear your memories and thoughts: do you love it or hate it? Has it grown stale over the years or is it the same paragon of baroque luxury it claimed to be when it opened? Send all that to jack@manchestermill.co.uk by midday tomorrow to help him with his weekend read.
In our latest podcast we discuss the China story, Joshi’s weekend read about levelling up and why on earth people are swimming in the freezing waters of Salford. Listen in here.
Exclusive: Medical director quits as problems mount at the Northern Care Alliance
By Joshi Herrmann
The medical director of one of the country’s leading NHS trusts has stepped down as the organisation comes under increasing pressure about its performance, The Mill understands. The Northern Care Alliance runs hospitals in Salford, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury and its flagship hospital, Salford Royal, is expected to be heavily criticised in a Care Quality Commission inspection report. Staff at the trust expected the report to come out this week but it hasn’t been published yet.
Chris Brookes held one of the most influential healthcare positions in Greater Manchester, as the medical director overseeing Salford Royal, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and Fairfield General Hospital in Bury. A spokesperson for the trust told The Mill: “Dr Chris Brookes announced his plans to retire as Chief Medical Officer earlier this year. He chose to retire from the NCA in December 2022 to enable him to take up a role with a rugby league club, whose season starts in January 2023.”
Salford Royal, where Brookes is based, has been the subject of negative press attention recently. The Sunday Times published an investigation in July which revealed an NHS-commissioned report into one of the hospital’s orthopaedic surgeons, John “Brad” Williamson. The report found that his “unacceptable and unjustifiable” actions directly contributed to the death of one of his patients, Catherine O’Connor.
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