Local Democracy Reporting Service

A new super-surgery in Hereford, which cost £9m, is due to open its doors to patients tomorrow.

The Station Medical Centre building at Station Approach has three floors and will house five GP surgeries, with 49 clinical rooms.

For the time being patients must only visit Station Medical Centre if they have a pre-booked appointment.

Dr Andrew Watts, a GP Partner and clinical director, said: “We loved our quirky old buildings that had served us well over recent decades, but there was just not enough space to accommodate all of our staff."

Not everything is being cancelled this Christmas, and an ice rink is going to be set up next to the ruins of Coventry Cathedral next month.

It'll be open until January with systems in place to limit numbers and keep social distancing.

Image source, Getty Images

A storage locker factory in Flintshire is set to be closed, with the loss of 55 jobs.

Press Association

Police are expecting to have to break up big gatherings at Christmas, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has said.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, David Jamieson said: "If we think there's large groups of people gathering where they shouldn't be, then police will have to intervene."

But Mr Jamieson also said: "It's not the police's job to stop people enjoying their Christmas.

"Things are very on the edge in a lot of communities and it wouldn't take very much to spark off unrest, riots, damage."

A railway station serving the National Memorial Arboretum could be operating in the near future.

The station will be situated close to the signal box at Alrewas, Staffordshire, on the Burton upon Trent to Lichfield line.

Image source, Michael Fabricant

A shuttle will then used for passengers unable to walk the short distance to the arboretum - which cannot currently be reached by public transport.

The new station would be the first step in a plan to reopen the railway line to passenger trains.

The plans were discussed yesterday , externalby West Midlands Rail Executive boss Malcolm Holmes, arboretum chief executive Philippa Rawlinson and Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant.

More areas of the West Midlands are waiting to hear if they'll be moved up to tier two coronavirus restrictions, but the decision is based on more than just the infection rate.

We asked the Department of Health to explain what is taken into account. It indicated that the reasons include:

• Number and increase of coronavirus cases
• The positivity rate (or the percentage of tests that come back positive)
• Pressures on the NHS
• Which age groups are being infected

We aren't given all the figures the government uses, but the decision could also be influenced by the control the local authority has and who is being infected.

For instance, if a high number of infections were within a university campus, but there was little chance of it spreading to the wider community and the risk to those catching it are low, then the risk level might not be raised.

There's a BBC article explaining what we know about the thinking behind the decisions.

First-team coach Jim Troughton is leaving Warwickshire following a review of the 2020 season.

BBC Radio CWR

The University of Warwick said it would take action against students who break coronavirus rules after police were called to break up an illegal gathering at the weekend.

Warwickshire Police said officers were called to a student accommodation block on Gibbet Hill Road in Coventry just before 01:00 on Saturday and the large crowd was "dispersed without an issue".

Image source, Google

The university said: "If anyone wilfully or repeatedly breaches University or government guidance, policies, or laws in relation to Covid-19, they are putting our community at risk and will be subject to appropriate sanctions."

BBC Weather Watchers

In the breaks between the showers it's looked quite nice outside and the BBC Weather Watchers have been dodging the rain to share some photos.

These ones were taken in Penkridge, Condover and Gnosall.

Image source, Hazlenut

Image source, STFC Goose

Image source, Shaun

Coventry Live

Here are three stories from Coventry Live today:

• Coventry road split in half by Covid-19 tiers, external
• First picture of tragic schoolgirl, external
• Plans for £1.5m makeover of bus station, external

Coronavirus cases in the South Staffordshire district have risen again, new figures show, after yesterday's news the whole county could move into tier two as early as the weekend.

The rate of new cases in South Staffordshire rose to 364.7 per 100,000 people for the week up to 23 October, up from 172.5 for the previous seven days.

That makes it the highest in the West Midlands, despite currently being in the lowest, tier one category.

Stoke-on-Trent is already in tier two, with 283.2 new cases per 100,000 people for the week up to 23 October, up from 173.2.

In the same period, Blackburn with Darwen, in tier one, had the highest rate in England, with 785.6 new infections per 100,000 people.

Michele Paduano
Health correspondent, BBC Midlands Today

Fourteen patients at Solihull Hospital had operations cancelled after a failure to send off their coronavirus swabs.

A source said seven surgeons and their teams were unable to perform cancer and other procedures on Monday as a result.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said an investigation was under way, following the error that meant screening samples were unavailable.

Image source, Google

It has apologised to the patients for their distress and is working to reschedule the operations at the next earliest opportunity.

Solihull Hospital has been designated as a coronavirus free hospital to perform a range of procedures including urology and general surgery.

A spokesman for the trust said: “Surgical teams at Solihull Hospital were unable to proceed with a number of operations on Monday as Covid screening sample results were unavailable to them.

"In error, the samples had not been conveyed for processing by the laboratory."

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Just under half the coronavirus complaints in Birmingham have been about people not wearing masks and other protective equipment, a city council report has revealed., external

It has set up a whistleblowing line and said it had recieved 541 calls about the masks not being worn and 515 about other PPE issues.

Image source, Getty Images

Aside from those marked “other”, the complaints were most commonly about dining services and most cases are still marked as "open" by environmental health officials.

There have now been 2,265 complaints since February, with 763 of them coming since the start of October.

BBC Radio Shropshire Sport

The Shrewsbury Town manager said bad luck and the windy weather played a part in last night's defeat to Fleetwood and asked fans to "look beyond the results".

Sam Ricketts's side have won just once in their eight league games so far, but he said: "I know we want to win every game, but you couldn't any ask more from the performance level, it was just a case of that final little bit."

Image source, Getty Images

Ricketts also said his side has been on a "little run when we've had no luck go our way whatsoever".

And he said last night's match "didn't end up being a game of football as such." because of the windy weather.

Shropshire Star

Here are three stories from the Shropshire Star today:

• Homeless man jailed after raping 13-year-old girl, external
• Inquest told about caravan site dispute, external
• Nurse died of accidental drugs overdose, external

Local Democracy Reporting Service

People needing urgent, but not emergency, care at the hospitals in Herefordshire and Worcestershire will be given time slots.

The NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group said it was introducing the change to reduce the number of people in waiting areas and reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading.

People will be asked to call the NHS 111 line first to ask where they should go and when.

Those needing emergency treatment are still being asked to call 999 or go to an accident and emergency department.

BBC Radio Stoke Sport

Stoke City are waiting to find out the extent of an injury to goalkeeper Adam Davies.

He had to leave the pitch during last night's 2-0 defeat at Swansea.

Image source, Getty Images

The manager, Michael O'Neill, confirmed he has injured his knee but it will take time to assess the damage.

Angus Gunn came on to replace Davies at half-time.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Telford is expecting to hear if it will be upgraded to tier two coronavirus restrictions, along with Dudley and Staffordshire.

A government decision is expected later and Dudley Council said the measures could come into effect as early as tomorrow.

In Staffordshire, new measures could be in place this weekend but a date is still to be confirmed.

In Telford the latest infection rates suggest that there are now 208 and cases for every 100,000 people, compared to 109 in neighbouring Shropshire.

All three areas border high risk areas and the case rate has continued to increase.

BBC Weather

We're forecast more showers but there could be some dry spells too.

The temperature could reach 14C (57F) and more rain is forecast tomorrow.

Image source, Dammo

Andy Giddings
BBC News

Welcome to the start of our live service for Wednesday.

We'll be bringing you all the latest updates for the West Midlands.

You can let us know about stories in your area via email, Twitter , externaland Facebook, external.