I was delighted to learn that the government is opening a new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) in Hornchurch this December. It’s one of 13 centres announced this month as part of the Prime Minister’s drive to cut NHS waiting lists and get people better, faster care. It will be in the new St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub, which itself is due to open on Suttons Lane next spring and will have capacity to deliver over 38,000 tests and scans a year, including CT and MRI.
Cutting NHS waiting lists, which grew during the pandemic, is one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five key pledges. By May the Government had delivered a 94% reduction in the number of people waiting more than 78 weeks for treatment from the September 2021 peak. Havering’s local NHS trust, BHRUT, has gone even further and in April announced that they had completely cleared waiting lists of those waiting more than 18 months for treatment. This CDC, alongside a wide range of other services coming to the new St. George’s Health & Wellbeing Hub next spring, will help to get people better care, ease pressure on Queen’s Hospital and deliver better health outcomes. I look forward to the first tests and scans taking place this winter.
In more frustrating news, I know residents share my disappointment in the wake of the High Court's judgement on the judicial review brought by five Council's against Sadiq Khan’s decision to expand the ULEZ to cover all of London. As in all Judicial Reviews, the High Court did not judge the policy itself but merely whether the Mayor of London and Transport for London had followed the correct process when making the decision to proceed with the policy.
While this ruling confirms that the Mayor does have the power to make such a decision, it does not consider the impact that it will have upon residents and businesses in Havering where the improvements it will offer in terms of air quality are negligible. The chorus of people opposing this policy and calling upon the Mayor to abandon it continues to grow. The Leader of the Opposition has also made public calls upon the Mayor to review it. I continue to oppose the policy and have written to the Mayor to once again call on him to heed the clear view of Londoners on this issue.