Tag Archives: HM Government

Quick-thinking Highways England traffic officers ensured that the Riding for the Disabled Association’s fundraising effort was not left short-changed at this weekend’s National Championships in Gloucestershire.

Highways England received reports of debris lying in lane 3 of the M5 near Sedgemoor Services yesterday afternoon. Dispatched to the scene, traffic officers Andy Pollard and Andy White closed off the lane of the motorway and removed a large box from the carriageway.

What they found, in fact, was a box of hooded jumpers belonging to the Riding for the Disabled Association and bound for the annual National Championships at Hartpury College.

Realising the championships were getting under way today, team manager Lee Evans tracked down the RDA, made contact and repatriated the hoodies last night – in good time to make one of the fundraising stands.

Richard Hunter, a merchandiser, sells clothing at the event to help raise funds for the RDA and the box had become dislodged from his trailer as he made his way to the event. The box was transferred via a number of patrol vehicles and Mr Hunter was able to collect the hoodies at services near junction 11A at Gloucester.

He said:

What an amazing level of service, way above and beyond what anyone could have expected. A big thank you to all Highways England staff Involved.

Rob Penney, service delivery manager for Highways England, added:

We were really pleased to help out in this instance and to ensure that the owner was found.

We pride ourselves on the service we provide to road users across the country, it was a good team effort, and we hope the championships are a success for all those involved.

Find out more information on Highways England’s traffic officer service.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

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The Highways England project at Two Mills, where the A550 meets the A540, is due to start on Monday 17 July. A new 320 metre cycle path will be created through the junction, with traffic lights and toucan crossings making it easier to cross the A550.

The right turn lanes onto the A540 from the A550 will also be improved and a new high-friction road surface will be laid to reduce the risk of collisions at the junction.

The A540, which runs between Chester and Hoylake, is popular with cyclists and group rides set off from a cyclists’ café near the Two Mills junction during most weekends throughout the year.

Phil Tyrrell, Project Manager at Highways England, said:

We’re committed to significantly improving safety across our road network, and the new cycle path as well as the wider and longer right turn lanes will make it much easier and safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to cross the junction.

We will do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum while the work is taking place, and look forward to seeing the new cycle path open in time for the spring.

The new cycle path, which will be shared by cyclists and pedestrians, will run along the southbound A540. The route will cross two new islands on the A550 at the Two Mills junction before continuing along the A540.

Two crossings will also be created at either end of the cycle path for people travelling in the opposite direction. The bus stop on the A540 will be moved to the opposite side of the junction to allow space for the new cycle path.

Peter Williams from Neston is a member of the Chester Cycling Campaign, which campaigns for new and improved cycle routes. He said:

We’re really pleased to see this scheme taking place as the junction is used by lots of cyclists every week – either commuting to work or for leisure. I tend to meet up with members of the Chester and North Wales Cyclists’ Touring Club twice a week at the Eureka cyclists’ café near the junction before we set off on a ride.

You have to be really careful when you cross the junction at the moment and a few people I know have had their bikes clipped by drivers who haven’t seen them, so the new cycle path will definitely make it safer.

Most of the work will be carried out overnight between 8pm and 5am, with some work also taking place at weekends. A series of overnight lane or road closures will be in place on most nights, with clearly-signed diversions. The scheme is due to be completed by spring 2018.

The cycling project at the Two Mills junction is one of 200 cycling schemes taking place across England up until 2021 paid for by a £100 million government fund for cycling. The schemes are designed to make it easier for cyclists to cross motorway junctions and use major A roads.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

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Over the next few days drivers and residents will see a 400 tonne crane on the site where the A19 meets the A1058 Coast Road. The crane will be lifting 55 huge concrete reinforced beams into place which will form the base of the new bridges.

Three bridges are being put in place, 1 to support the A1058 Coast Road over the Coast Road roundabout and 2 to carry the Coast Road roundabout over the newly lowered A19. This will create the third layer of the junction and will mean drivers will be able to continue straight along the A19 underneath the roundabout.

These 55 beams have been transported from West Mead in Ireland and weigh 35 tonnes each at a length of 22 metres. Of these beams, 22 have already been put in place on the north bridge of the roundabout.

View timelapse footage of beams being lifted into place.

Highways England assistant project manager Steven Cox said:

This is an exciting milestone because once these bridges are in place we will be able to start creating the underpass which is what obviously will take the most time as we need to remove 80,000 cubic metres of earth.

It’s great that we have managed to hit this major milestone nearly a year since we started construction. Over the last 12 months we have worked 285,000 hours up to the end of June with an average of 120 people on site every day.

During that time we have installed a retaining wall on the A19 southbound approach to Silverlink roundabout, which enabled the construction of the Silverlink Point retail development. The roundabout has been altered and the A1058 has been moved into a contraflow on the westbound carriageway so work could start on putting in the supports for the bridges.

Work has also been carried out at Middle Engine Lane. Over the last few months piling work has been completed which will form the foundation of the new bridge carrying the A19. The new bridge will be widened to support the A19 and new southbound exit slip road and this will be completed in the next few months.

As part of the scheme, improvements will be carried out to 1,175 metres of cycleway and an extra 247 metres will be created.

The scheme employs 6 graduate or apprentices and 60% of its workforce is from the North East.

The £75 million Highways England scheme when finished will reduce congestion and improve journey time reliability for the thousands of drivers who use it every day.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

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Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said: I strongly condemn the horrific terror attack in Jerusalem. I am saddened and appalled by this despicable act and offer my condolences to the victims and their families. The UK continues to stand with Israe… read more

The Department of Health has announced that 33 research units and groups will receive over £120 million funding for global health research. It comes after an open research competition led by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Following the success of this initial competition, a call for a second round of applications has also been launched today, funded by £40 million from the Department of Health Official Developmental Assistance (ODA) budget.

The aim of this research is to improve the health of patients and public in low and middle-income countries. Such research is vital to protect the UK at home. Disease knows no borders, and we are continually under threat from poorly understood infections and antimicrobial resistance.

Good health is a global endeavour and the UK is a leader in this area of research and innovation.

The selected 33 successful NIHR global health research units and groups include:

• The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in collaboration with India, The Phillipines, Colombia and Nigeria – to provide global surveillance data for bacterial pathogens through whole genome sequencing, to inform public health policy, and providing resourcing and training for local capacity

• University of Dundee with India – a large scale clinical partnership between Scotland and India to combat diabetes through genetic epidemiology and pharmacogenetics

• Swansea University with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Senegal, Ghana, India, Syria, West Bank – to develop effective and deliverable solutions to improve services and outcomes for patients in the treatment and prevention of burn injuries in conflict

• University College London with Malawi, Mali, Gambia, Kenya, West Bank and South Africa – Mucosal Pathogens Research Unit addressing pneumonia, meningitis and neonatal sepsis, addressing limitations in the long-term effectiveness of existing vaccines

Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy said:

This funding allows our universities to strengthen their research and expertise as leaders in global health research.

The UK will continue to be at the forefront of health knowledge, and it is only right that we support other nations as they improve care for patients and public.

A full list of successful projects from the first wave of funding are shown in the table below.

Details about the new call for applications

For the second wave of funding, awards of up to £2 million over 3 years are available for additional global health research groups.

The NIHR are keen to see proposals from world-leading academic groups in the UK that wish to expand into the field of global health working in partnership with researchers in developing countries. Applications close 20 October 2017.

For more information please see the NIHR website

Full list of successful projects from first wave of funding

Title	Host institution	Brief summary of work
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa, The University of Edinburgh	The University of Edinburgh	Our vision is to harness the combined resources of the University of Edinburgh and 9 African partners to reduce the burden of infectious diseases by strengthening health systems
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Neglected Tropical Diseases, BSMS	University of Sussex	A Sussex-based partnership that undertakes world class interdisciplinary research on neglected tropical diseases in African countries and rapidly translates this research into benefits for patients, families and communities
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease in South Asians, Imperial College London	Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine	We will translate scientific discoveries and technological innovations into sustainable improvements in healthcare, to deliver improved prevention and better treatment of both diabetes and heart disease, amongst people from South Asia
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Health in Situations of Fragility	Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh	The unit identifies sources of resilience within formal health systems and local community processes to facilitate effective provision for health priorities – particularly mental health and non-communicable disease – in situations of fragility
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery, University of Birmingham	University of Birmingham	The NIHR Unit on Global Surgery will develop global surgical research, relevant to low and middle-income countries, by establishing sustainable international research hubs and delivering practice changing research for better patient outcomes
NIHR Global Health Research Unit Action on Salt China (ASC), Queen Mary University of London	Queen Mary University of London	ASC is a NIHR-funded unit for salt reduction in China through research and public health programmes led by the Wolfson Institute, QMUL, UK and The George Institute China
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Genomic Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute	Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute	Establishing expertise and local research capacity in the use of whole genome sequencing in low and middle income countries to provide intelligent global surveillance of microbial pathogens and antimicrobial resistance
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Lung health and Tuberculosis Research in Africa, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	Our NIHR unit aims to improve the health of children and adults in Africa through multi-disciplinary applied health research on lung health and tuberculosis
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Health System Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa, King’s College London	King’s College London	The King’s College London NIHR unit on Health System Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa will work across primary care, maternal and surgical care platforms, developing, adapting and evaluating health system strengthening interventions to enhance the processes and outcomes of evidence based care
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Diabetes Outcomes Research, University of Dundee	University of Dundee	This unit is a large scale Scotland/India Clinical Partnership using innovative big data and mobile technologies to provide low cost personalized medicine to combat ill health associated with diabetes
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Improving Health in Slums, The University of Warwick	University of Warwick	The NIHR unit is focused improving the health and welfare of people who live in slums across Africa and South Asia
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Mucosal Pathogens (MPRU), University College London	University College London	The MPRU is a UK and lower and middle-income country (LMIC) partnership that aims to prevent mucosal pathogens causing pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis in young children
NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Respiratory Health (RESPIRE), The University of Edinburgh	The University of Edinburgh	The NIHR unit on Global Respiratory Health will work to improve respiratory outcomes from common respiratory communicable and non-communicable disorders in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Pakistan

NIHR global health research groups

Title	Host institution	Brief summary of work
NIHR Global Health Research Group on African Snakebite Research, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	This project will establish self-sustaining regional hubs of snakebite expertise to support national and regional authorities design and implement systems to reduce snakebite deaths and disability
NIHR Global Health Research Group on prevention and management of non-communicable diseases and HIV-infection in Africa, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	Our research group will evaluate integrated prevention and management of chronic conditions in Africa, focusing on HIV-infection, diabetes and hypertension, and on research that is relevant for policy and practice
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Improving Stroke Care, University of Central Lancashire	University of Central Lancashire	Our multi professional research group brings together researchers from the UK, India and Australia with expertise and interest in the addressing the Global Health Challenge of stroke
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Early Childhood Development for Peacebuilding, Queen’s University of Belfast	The Queen’s University of Belfast	This group supports the development and rigorous evaluation of early childhood development programmes to contribute to sustainable development and peacebuilding in lower and middle income countries affected by conflict
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Nepal Injury Research, University of the West of England	Bristol University of the West of England	Preventing injuries, making communities safer and improving injury outcomes in Nepal through collaborative research, surveillance, innovation, training, capacity building and policy development
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, University of Cambridge	University of Cambridge / Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	The NIHR Group on Global Neurotrauma is a multi-institutional consortium of partners from LMICs and HICs with a mission to advance global neurotrauma care and research in order to save lives, reduce disability and improve the quality of life for patients with traumatic brain injury
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Global COPD in Primary Care, University of Birmingham	University of Birmingham	Fostering research in primary care and the community to improve the diagnosis, management and prognosis of COPD patients in low and middle income countries
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Social Policy and Health Inequalities led by the University of Glasgow	The University Court of the University of Glasgow	We are working to improve population health in Brazil by studying the social determinants of health and to further our understanding of how social policy may reduce health inequalities globally
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Burn Trauma, Swansea University	Swansea University	A unique collaboration between university and international NGO that will work towards transforming the standard of burn care and prevention in some of the poorest regions of the world using a systems based approach backed by implementation science
NIHR Global Health Research Group on warfarin anticoagulation in patients with cardiovascular disease in Sub-Saharan Africa, University of Liverpool	University of Liverpool	Anticoagulation with warfarin is an important area of unmet medical need. Our group aims to improve anticoagulation by developing dosing algorithms, and further improve anticoagulation quality by using novel technological advances
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Global Surgical Technologies, University of Leeds	University of Leeds	The NIHR Group on Global Surgical Technologies will identify areas of surgical need in India and Sierra Leone and develop and evaluate new technological solutions
NIHR Global Health Research Group on POsT Conflict Trauma; PrOTeCT, Imperial College London	Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine	As a result of this funding, the group will be enabled to improve the health and wellbeing of civilians afflicted by blast injuries, significantly reduce the socio-economic burden of explosive remnants of war in the developing world, develop a research and innovation hub for orthopaedic, trauma and biomaterials researchers, engineers and clinicians and advance the UK’s understanding of biomaterials and orthopaedic technology
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Psychosis Outcomes: the Warwick¬India-Canada (WIC) Network, The University of Warwick	University of Warwick	The NIHR Group on Psychosis Outcomes: Warwick-India-Canada (WIC) Network is a group of international experts in global mental health who aim improve outcomes of psychotic disorders in India, harnessing the potential of digital and mobile technologies
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Evidence to Policy pathway to Immunisation in China (NIHR EPIC), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	We conduct applied vaccine research to help decision makers in China build a vaccination programme that ensures reliable, affordable, equitable and uninterrupted supply of vaccines to the Chinese population
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Stillbirth Prevention and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, The University of Manchester	The University of Manchester	The University of Manchester, in partnership with the Lugina Africa Midwives Research Network, will undertake high quality research on the prevention and management of stillbirth in sub-Saharan Africa
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Road Safety, University of Southampton	University of Southampton	The goal of our NIHR Group on Global Road Safety is to reduce the number and severity of road accidents in Low-Middle Income Countries through our underpinning philosophy of local solutions for local problems
NIHR Global Health Group on Dementia Prevention and Enhanced Care (DePEC), Newcastle University	Newcastle University	Dementia, a global health priority, has a disproportionately large impact in low and middle income countries (LMICs). In the absence of a cure, and without a future risk reduction strategy and efficient, feasible post-diagnostic care, dementia will have a devastating societal and economic effect in LMICs. We will bring together expertise in public health and primary care with global epidemiological research (large LMIC dementia research collaboration, 10/66 Study), to create a NIHR Global Health Research Group on Dementia Prevention and Enhanced Care (DePEC)
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Global Health Econometrics and Economics (GHE2), University of York	The University of York	GHE2 will address the evidence gap in population- and health system-level interventions by applying and developing methods to (1) estimate their average and distributional impact and (2) assess their value-for-money
NIHR Global Health Research Group on developing psycho-social interventions for mental health care, Bart’s and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry	Barts & The London Queen Mary’s School of Medicine & Dentistry	In collaboration with partners in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia and Uganda, our group will develop psycho-social interventions for people with severe mental illnesses, utilising existing resources in communities
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Diet and Activity Research at MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge	MRC Epidemiology Unit	The goal of the NIHR group on Global Diet and Activity Research (GDAR) is to understand the determinants of population levels of diet and activity behaviour in low and middle income countries and to evaluate population-level interventions aimed at changing these behaviours in order to reduce risk of non-communicable disease

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