Next Monday, 30th September, Eccles Youth Club was to be the venue where homeless people in Salford could go to get a free flu jab, as winter approaches. The day was set up the Salford Unemployed and Community Resource Centre (SUCRC) which has a Breakfast Club, and medical and dental project running for such clients.
"We've now been told that the only people who can have flu jabs at this point in time are people over 65 years of age" says Alec McFadden of SUCRC "We do know that people in the NHS, schools and councils are getting them as well, regardless of age.
"The difficulty with our clients is that the average age expectancy of life for the homeless is only 43, so this seems a strange situation because on average our clientele will die 22 years before they are eligible for flu injections."
Last year, Salford Primary Care Together provided the free flu jabs but this year has told SUCRC that it doesn't have the resources until the end of November.
"Last year it was particularly cold earlier, and that is even more so if you are somebody who's homeless and therefore this is putting their lives in danger" McFadden explains "We've raised it with Salford Primary Care and also went to our local chemist and he came back and said exactly the same; that there seems to be a shortage for some reason. But this is a key issue.
"Poverty and homelessness leads to health problems and life threatening diseases" he adds "It just seems to me that although there's loads of fundraising, there's a lack of organisation. We need, on a town or county level, a kind of Ministry for the Homeless, so that their health and wellbeing are a priority because their life expectancy is less than anyone else on the planet."
See also previous Salford Star article – Eccles Homeless Treated To Christmas Dinner and Flu Jab – click here
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