CHARLES GRAHAM - Such a prized health asset

And I am very pleased to see that it is to return as a Saturday night fixture in Wigan town centre after a hugely successful pre-Christmas trial.

It involves local volunteers from the charity giving up what is for many the most precious social time of the week to set up a first aid unit to treat casualties of the pub and club scene.

In other words folk who are the worse for drink or the walking wounding after an accident or minor assault.

The underlying aim of the scheme is to relieve some of the horrendous pressure that these casualties would otherwise be putting on our overtaxed ambulance service and the accident and emergency department of Wigan Infirmary.

The staff are qualified enough to know that if they come across or are approached by a patient in need of acute care that their case can be escalated up to paramedic and casualty level.

But the workload they must save at A&E must be formidable. All those people who really only need bandaging, being put in the recovery position or being given a strong cup of coffee can then get home rather than clog up triage and waiting rooms for hours.

No wonder more and more towns and cities are thinking of rolling out these mobile Alcohol Reception Centres.

And I can only imagine that it will be of even greater benefit as the Covid-19 epidemic takes increasing hold.

Council bosses say that funding has been secured to keep the Safe Haven project (part of St John Ambulance’s Winter Pressures Project) for a good few weeks to come.

If I held the purse strings I think I would be funding schemes like this the year round though. After all, these days the seasonality of pressures on the sharp end of the health service is nowhere near as pronounced and they seem to be busy during all four seasons.