• Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay thanked NHS staff at two sites in Warwickshire for their unwavering work busting the Covid backlogs
• He visited the new Community Diagnostic Centre at George Eliot Hospital that will further support people access tests and scans locally and more rapidly
• Visits highlight continued commitment to ensure patients can get timely, quality care from the NHS

Patients across Warwickshire are benefiting from use of innovative digital health technologies and the opening of a new Community Diagnostics Centre to improve access to services and bust the Covid backlogs.

The George Eliot Hospital CDC, which will open mid-August, will host a new x-ray suite and dedicated clinical areas, opening up capacity for up to 12,000 ultrasound scans and 19,000 x-rays each year. This will speed up appointment times so patients are able to access treatment quicker, easier, and closer to home.

Visiting the region today (Friday 5 August), Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay went to both the new George Eliot Hospital, and Manor Park Surgery to thank NHS staff for their tireless efforts to provide care to their local communities.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:

With the backlogs due to covid it is vital that we innovate to speed up diagnosis and treatment. So  it was great to see the state of the art new diagnostic centre in Nuneaton, which opens in 10 days time, and to discuss with local GPs how this will also help them deliver improved patient care.

Diagnostic one-stop-shops, like the George Eliot Hospital, are right at the heart of local communities and are helping to speed up access to X rays, lung funtion tests, ultrasound, and endoscopy. By bringing under one roof cardiac and respiratory diagnosis with access to pathology investigations, it will allow patients to attend once rather than need repeat visits. It is also good for staff retention and progression to have these new facilities with state of the art equipment.

This, combined with other innovations in the region like remote monitoring at Manor Park Surgery are supporting the NHS on the biggest catch up programme in history.

The Health and Social Care Secretary also met with radiographers at the George Elliot hospital who are doing vital work carrying out diagnostic imaging and intervention procedures to bust the backlogs and ensure people are being seen quickly. Combined, CDCs in the Midlands region have delivered 257,239 tests between November 2021 and 17 July 2022 – which has helped thousands of people across the region to get tests earlier, speeding up diagnosis of a range of conditions from cancer to heart or lung disease, and enabling patients to access treatment faster.

At Manor Court Surgery in Nuneaton the Health and Social Care Secretary met dedicated staff to discuss what the surgery is doing to support patients. The practice, which forms part of the Nuneaton and Bedworth Primary Care Network, told the Secretary of State about their innovative use of remote monitoring to better support patients in care homes and those with long term conditions. Remote monitoring, where patients monitor their condition via technology and feedback to their doctor home, both improves patient experience, receiving the care they need from their home, and frees up valuable time.

Over 280,000 people have already used remote monitoring at home and in care homes across the country in the last year and increasing the availability of remote monitoring across the country could support a further 500,000 people receive personalised care from home by March 2023.

Dr Catherine Free, Chief Medical Officer at George Eliot Hospital, said:

By putting X-rays, scans and other tests for a large range of conditions in the same location we can begin to provide a one-stop service for patients to improve patient experience and reduce the time people wait between appointments.

The need for tests to help diagnose and treat patients is forecast to increase so we need to ensure we have the right facilities to meet the demand.

This is the first phase of the project and we are waiting to hear confirmation of funding to complete the second phase of the project which will bring CT and MRI scans and all the tests for cancer under one roof, improving outcomes for patients with cancer and other serious conditions.

Backed by £2.3 billion, up to 160 community diagnostic centres will be rolled out across the country by 2025, delivering 9 million tests and checks a year.

Over 90 community diagnostic centres are already open across England and have delivered over 1.5 million checks – including over 700,000 additional CT, MRI, ultrasound, endoscopy, and ultrasound tests, with around 30,000 tests a week.

As a result, good progress towards reducing the longest waits is already being made – the number of patients waiting over two years for treatment falling by more than 80% since February.

Over the next 3 years, a record £39 billion will be invested in the health and social care system to ensure it has the long-term resource it needs while working to bust the Covid backlogs, reducing patient waiting times and speeding up diagnoses.

Shane Boutwell of Rivendell Vale, South Woodham Ferrers, who had entered guilty pleas earlier in the year, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on 2 August 2022.

The sentencing came after he persistently imported and burnt waste on a large scale at 2 sites in Essex.

In June 2020, officers visited land at Bradwell Wick Leisure Plots, Maldon Road, Bradwell-on-Sea after firefighters raised concerns following several fires at the site.

Officers found large quantities of waste on the site, including waste electricals, household waste, and demolition waste. They also discovered piles of burned waste. They made several further visits and attempted to work with Boutwell, offering him opportunities to stop his activities and clear the site.

Boutwell failed to clear the site and gave officers several different, conflicting accounts.

In September 2020, officers attended another site, owned by Boutwell at Lower Barn Farm, Lower Burnham Road, Latchingdon. They found piles of burning waste with flames up to 2 metres high. Essex Fire and Rescue attended and discovered a gas cylinder amongst the embers before immediately requesting fire engines to attend.

Environment Agency officers identified large piles of soils heavily contaminated with bricks, concrete, paving slabs, and plastics. They were told by a fire officer that the site was a “cause for concern”.

As at Bradwell Wick, Boutwell was given chances to stop depositing, spreading and burning waste at the site. He was advised that all waste on site must be removed by a licensed waste carrier. Boutwell failed to engage.

Prosecuting for the Environment Agency, barrister Barnaby Hone told the court that Boutwell had operated “2 professional, illegal, waste disposal sites.”

Mr Hone explained that Boutwell’s activities had allowed him to avoid the fees and taxes associated with lawful disposal, undermining lawful competitors, and persisting with his offending in the face of intervention by the Environment Agency.

Sentencing Boutwell to 14 months’ imprisonment, Judge Loram QC told him that the 2 sites were, “professional operations for your own gain. The impact of your behaviour on others was profound. You affected legitimate businesses and encouraged others to sink to the bottom like you.”

Judge Loram QC made an order requiring Boutwell to clean up both sites upon his release from prison. She ordered him to return to court in September 2023 for consideration of claims for prosecution costs and the confiscation of the proceeds of his crimes.

Environment Agency Enforcement Team Leader, Lesley Robertson, said:

We take illegal waste activity very seriously and will not hesitate to disrupt criminal activity and prosecute those responsible.

In this case, Boutwell was repeatedly instructed to remove waste from both sites and failed to do so.

He operated at a commercial advantage, importing and burning waste on a significant scale, undermining legitimate business with little or no regard for the environment or residents.

His sentence shows just how serious Her Honour Judge Loram QC considered this to be.

Boutwell previously pleaded guilty to operating 2 waste management facilities, 1 at Bradwell Wick, the other at Lower Burnham Road, without a permit.

He also pleaded guilty to disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health at both sites. He further pleaded guilty to failing to remove the waste from Bradwell Wick.

Following a review of the latest evidence, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has today published a statement advising a move from 2 doses to 1 for the routine adolescent HPV vaccination programme.

The JCVI regularly reviews all vaccination programmes and considers new evidence as it emerges. The Committee has been considering the potential decision for several years and now considers that there is strong evidence in favour of moving to 1 dose. This view aligns with recent advice from the World Health Organization’s SAGE committee.

The JCVI consulted on the proposed changes earlier this year to ensure no evidence was missed and stakeholders’ views were taken into consideration. The Secretary of State for Health will consider the advice and ultimately decide whether to make any changes to the vaccination programme in due course.

The HPV programme in the UK targets girls and boys aged 12 to 13 and is currently given as a 2-dose course. Under the new advice, all young people will be eligible for 1 dose as part of the routine adolescent programme.

The aim of the programme is to offer protection against cancers caused by HPV, including cervical cancer, cancers of the head and neck and cancers of the anus and genital areas. In England, recently published evidence has shown that the HPV vaccine programme has reduced the incidence of cervical cancer in young women offered the vaccine at age 12 to 13 years by 87% – and will eventually go on to save thousands of lives.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA said:

We know that the HPV vaccine offers excellent protection against cervical cancer and should also prevent a range of other cancers in women and men. The advice from the JCVI is based on compelling evidence that shows 1 dose of the HPV vaccine is just as effective as 2 doses and this aligns with recent advice from the World Health Organization.

The advice has now been published and we will make sure that we work with the NHS and health partners to support the roll out of any changes to the programme.

We urge everyone who is eligible to take up this potentially life-saving vaccine when it is offered. Those who have missed out can catch up until their 25th birthday.

In addition to the routine adolescent programme, there is also a separate HPV vaccination programme for gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) aged up to 45 years, which is delivered through sexual health clinics. The advice from JCVI on the move to 1 dose applies to everyone aged under 25, including GBMSM. Any GBMSM aged 25 or over will continue to be offered 2 doses. Individuals living with HIV will be offered 3 doses, irrespective of their age.