Surrey's new MRI centre to help earlier cancer diagnoses
A new NHS diagnostic centre which will offer thousands of extra MRI scans to people in Surrey has opened its doors.Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust's new facility at Milford Hospital means an additional 11,000 MRI and 9,500 CT scans can be carried out each year.The trust said the additional scans will help to identify illnesses such as cancer and heart disease more quickly and ensure patients receive potentially life-saving care sooner.The centre is intended to ease pressure on the diagnostic facility at Guildford Hospital, which is under increasing pressure from a growing number of patients.
Milford's diagnostic centre is home two MRI scanners and the latest CT scanner.It will complement the services already available at the hospital, which include X-ray, ultrasound, echocardiogram and phlebotomy.Louise Stead, group chief executive for Royal Surrey and Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals, said: "I am delighted that our new community diagnostic centre has started to welcome its first patients, allowing them access to high-tech scans and diagnostic testing closer to home."This continued investment in our community hospitals is a key part of our strategy to boost out-of-hospital care and reduce reliance on our main hospital site in Guildford."I am hugely proud of everyone who has been involved in this project, which we know will ultimately improve health outcomes for the communities that we serve."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
10 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on fitness: evidence of the benefits of exercise keeps growing, but who is listening?
The role of exercise in promoting good general health, and helping to prevent heart disease, strokes and diabetes is well established. No wonder, then, that long‑distance running keeps growing in popularity. Popular tracks and parks have never been busier, with groups in stretchy Lycra and fitness trackers on their wrists. The internet is awash with exercise videos, while figures earlier this year showed that gym memberships have climbed to a record 11.5m. The 16.9% of people aged 16 or over in Britain who belong to a gym is one of the highest proportions in Europe. The older teenagers and young adults of generation Z are a key demographic behind this social trend. And recent news from the world's biggest cancer conference, in Chicago, shows how right they are to take the health benefits of fitness seriously. A landmark trial compared the outcomes of patients in several countries who were placed on a programme of structured exercise – assisted by a personal trainer – with those offered standard health advice. The results showing that exercise could be as effective as drugs, without the side-effects, in preventing the recurrence of colon cancer, were described by Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, as 'really exciting'. The expectation is that the study will influence treatment guidelines worldwide – including in the increasingly fitness-conscious UK. But there is another narrative about exercise in Britain that is hard to reconcile with the one above. This is that we are a chronically unwell, overweight and sedentary population, whose health problems are only partly linked to the Europe-wide demographic challenge of ageing. These difficulties are widely recognised to be psychological as well as physical, with particular concerns around the worsening mental health of children and young people, which is widely linked to the rise in smartphone use. Which of these accounts of British fitness habits is more accurate depends which segment of the population is being scrutinised. Government figures show that the age gap – with 16- to 24-year-olds the most physically active age group – is not the only one. There is also a significant socioeconomic disparity. Students and adults in managerial and professional jobs are much more likely to keep active than manual workers or people who are long-term unemployed. As with other indicators of health, such as weight or smoking, there is a clear correlation with income. Richer people with more education and higher social status are more likely to be well. Could gen Z buck this trend with its more general embrace of fitness, which some point out is far cheaper than pub-going? It is too soon to be sure. Some young people believe their gym-going habits are as much about economic insecurity and status anxiety as they are about commitment to health. But as ministers finalise their 10-year plan for the NHS, which is expected to place a strong emphasis on prevention, they have an opportunity to build on, and shape, the way that exercise is offered and experienced. That being physically active is good for you is reinforced by the latest cancer study. But a preoccupation with personal appearance can be debilitating. A public health approach to exercise should seek to maximise the gains and minimise the harms associated with fitness culture.
The Herald Scotland
16 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Nottingham attack families ask Streeting for names of staff who treated killer
The relatives of 19-year-old students Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates, met with Wes Streeting on Monday and asked for those responsible to be held accountable. After the meeting, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace's father, said: 'It was the actions of a few people that put a dangerous man out in the community'. Left to right, Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar (Nottinghamshire Police/PA) Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed three people and attempted to kill three more in Nottingham in June 2023. He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder. Calocane was admitted to hospital and sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times between 2020 and 2022 because of his violent behaviour and refusal to take his medication, before NHS services lost track of him and discharged him in the months before the attacks. Three reports: including one by the Care Quality Commission (CQC); described failings in his care but none included practitioners' names, Dr Kumar said with copies of the documents in-hand. Speaking outside the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), he told reporters: 'We'd like to know who was involved in the care of this person who committed all this harm. Why aren't there any names? 'He was sectioned four times – was it four different consultants? Was it one consultant? Who were the teams who didn't do their jobs?' He said: 'I think we deserve to know the detail – everyone in the country who has suffered the way we have through mental health-related homicide deserves to have the detail. 'When an operation goes wrong, someone gets named.' Dr Kumar added: 'We want people to just know, if they did wrong, what is it they need to do to be put right? Whether it's retraining, whether it's … doing the professional development again. 'The point is that you just can't have people who are providing a risky service even now.' Valdo Calocane (Nottinghamshire Police/PA) He added that the Health Secretary was 'very much on our side, he very much wants to see a way through' and that Mr Streeting has promised 'he's going to work hard at it'. Prior to the meeting, the families said in a statement that their correspondence with the mental health trust's chief executive, Ifti Majid, had been 'light on detail, vague, evasive, defensive and contradictory'. They added that he failed to answer Dr Kumar's questions. Dr Kumar said he has given Mr Streeting the questions he put to the chief executive. He said the Health Secretary 'has promised to do his best to get us all the answers', adding that he has confidence in Mr Streeting because he has 'taken a personal interest in this case' and likewise 'wants to end homicide by mental health'. Their meeting also follows a complaint lodged with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) by the families regarding an 'offensive' encounter with one of the watchdog's regional directors. Dr Kumar told The Sunday Times newspaper that their meeting with the IOPC, nine months after the attacks, began with a prayer, which he found 'patronising'. The issue was not discussed with Mr Streeting on Monday and would require a different meeting, he told reporters. A DHSC spokesperson said: 'Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England have accepted all the recommendations made in both the CQC and NHS England-commissioned reviews into the care and treatment received by Valdo Calocane. 'The Health and Social Care Secretary has called for recommendations from both reviews to be implemented as soon as possible and met with the bereaved families today to discuss the NHS England-commissioned Independent Homicide Review. 'As part of this work, NHS England has developed and is actively implementing evidence-based national guidance, so that all trusts are clear on the standards of care expected for patients with serious mental illnesses. 'We remain committed to delivering the fundamental changes needed to mental health services to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.'
Rhyl Journal
17 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Nottingham attack families ask Streeting for names of staff who treated killer
A February report into the care received by Calocane detailed how he was not forced to have long-lasting antipsychotic medication because he did not like needles, and how other patients at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust also went on to commit 'extremely serious' acts of violence. The relatives of 19-year-old students Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates, met with Wes Streeting on Monday and asked for those responsible to be held accountable. After the meeting, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace's father, said: 'It was the actions of a few people that put a dangerous man out in the community'. Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed three people and attempted to kill three more in Nottingham in June 2023. He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder. Calocane was admitted to hospital and sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times between 2020 and 2022 because of his violent behaviour and refusal to take his medication, before NHS services lost track of him and discharged him in the months before the attacks. Three reports: including one by the Care Quality Commission (CQC); described failings in his care but none included practitioners' names, Dr Kumar said with copies of the documents in-hand. Speaking outside the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), he told reporters: 'We'd like to know who was involved in the care of this person who committed all this harm. Why aren't there any names? 'He was sectioned four times – was it four different consultants? Was it one consultant? Who were the teams who didn't do their jobs?' He said: 'I think we deserve to know the detail – everyone in the country who has suffered the way we have through mental health-related homicide deserves to have the detail. 'When an operation goes wrong, someone gets named.' Dr Kumar added: 'We want people to just know, if they did wrong, what is it they need to do to be put right? Whether it's retraining, whether it's … doing the professional development again. 'The point is that you just can't have people who are providing a risky service even now.' He added that the Health Secretary was 'very much on our side, he very much wants to see a way through' and that Mr Streeting has promised 'he's going to work hard at it'. Prior to the meeting, the families said in a statement that their correspondence with the mental health trust's chief executive, Ifti Majid, had been 'light on detail, vague, evasive, defensive and contradictory'. They added that he failed to answer Dr Kumar's questions. Dr Kumar said he has given Mr Streeting the questions he put to the chief executive. He said the Health Secretary 'has promised to do his best to get us all the answers', adding that he has confidence in Mr Streeting because he has 'taken a personal interest in this case' and likewise 'wants to end homicide by mental health'. Their meeting also follows a complaint lodged with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) by the families regarding an 'offensive' encounter with one of the watchdog's regional directors. Dr Kumar told The Sunday Times newspaper that their meeting with the IOPC, nine months after the attacks, began with a prayer, which he found 'patronising'. The issue was not discussed with Mr Streeting on Monday and would require a different meeting, he told reporters. A DHSC spokesperson said: 'Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England have accepted all the recommendations made in both the CQC and NHS England-commissioned reviews into the care and treatment received by Valdo Calocane. 'The Health and Social Care Secretary has called for recommendations from both reviews to be implemented as soon as possible and met with the bereaved families today to discuss the NHS England-commissioned Independent Homicide Review. 'As part of this work, NHS England has developed and is actively implementing evidence-based national guidance, so that all trusts are clear on the standards of care expected for patients with serious mental illnesses. 'We remain committed to delivering the fundamental changes needed to mental health services to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.'
