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Frequently asked questions about our services during the Coronavirus outbreak

Published on 30 March 2020 03:09 PM

During this time, we understand that many of our clients, their families and carers and the wider public will have questions about our services and what we can do to help.

Is Age UK Manchester open?

Yes, we are. Our advice line – 0161 833 3944 – is open four days a week (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 9am-4:30pm). If you need our help, please call. You can also send us an enquiry 24 hours a day here. We aim to respond to all enquiries as soon as possible, usually within 48 hours or less.

What services are available?

All our services have had to adapt to comply with government advice and ensure our clients, staff and volunteers stay safe.

  • Day Care: We have temporarily closed our Day Care services. We are supporting those clients at home with things like shopping, collecting prescriptions and regular telephone calls and/or visits to ensure they are safe and well.
  • Residential Care: We have stopped all visits to Holmfield Residential Care Home until further notice and will be supporting residents and their families to keep in contact in other ways. This decision was taken after much consideration, with our top priority being the safety and health of our residents.
  • Information and Advice and Counselling: Our Information and Advice and Counselling Services are continuing to provide support for clients with telephone support. Home visits and face to face appointments are not available at this time.
  • Home Care: Our Home Care service continues to operate as normal in order to help maintain the health and wellbeing of older people who need us most. All staff are taking the necessary precautions to protect the health of clients and themselves.  
  • Charity Shops: Our Gorton, Withington and Wythenshawe shops have reopened, with all the necessary safety precautions in place. We are also able to take donations at Gorton and Withington but ask that you ring ahead before bringing any donations to Wythenshawe. Please bear with us as we adjust to new ways of accepting and processing donations. We may need to stop accepting donations without notice. This is to ensure safety of customers, volunteers and staff throughout our operations. 

I need help for myself or someone I care about. How can Age UK help at this time?

Whilst our Day Centres are closed, the premises are acting as donation and distribution centres to supply our older clients and other nearby vulnerable older people with the help and support they need at this time. This is primarily in the form of providing packs of essentials (i.e. food, cleaning supplies, toilet roll, soap, etc) and making telephone welfare calls to make sure people are safe and well.

If you or an older person needs a one-off pack of essentials and advice about longer-term support, contact our Centre closest to you:

     Gorton Day Centre
     0161 223 6062

     Crossacres Care Centre
     0161 437 0717

     Openshaw Resource Centre
     0161 205 3851

How can I help?

We still need donations of tinned food, toiletries, paper products, cleaning supplies and other essentials to distribute to older people in need. These can be dropped off by individuals at any of our three day centres. To make a large donation of goods, please contact Terri Torevell on terri.torevell@ageukmanchester.org.uk

For those who are unable to donate goods or their time, please consider making a donation on our Virgin Money Giving page here. Every donation, no matter the size, will help us to support Manchester’s older people at this difficult time.

What other help is available?

For people living in Manchester and in need of help, Manchester City Council have set up a hub to provide support. Call 0800 234 6123 or click here for more information.

For advice from Age UK National, call 0800 678 1602. The line is open seven days a week from 8am-7pm.

The Silver Line is open 24 hours a day for a friendly chat. You can reach them on 0800 470 80 90.

 

We will continue to monitor the Coronavirus situation and keep up to date with all of the latest government advice to ensure the most vulnerable older people in our community continue to receive our care through adapted services where needed, whilst our normally operated services are delivered safely.