This week we heard from Boris Johnson that July 19 is indeed likely to be Freedom Day – and everyone will have heaved a quiet sigh of relief. We have not yet defeated the virus – indeed, we currently have the highest daily case rate in Europe. Locally, many families are still grieving after nearly 250 confirmed deaths in Waverley.

But the link between new cases and hospitalisations is much less strong – for one reasons and one reason only: the vaccines work.

So – at the time of writing – daily hospital admissions across the NHS in England remain below 300 a day.

This is a manageable level for a large system like the NHS – indeed, I would have settled for that without hesitation during a number of very challenging winters when I was health secretary.

But it would be wrong to say Freedom Day is ‘irreversible’ – if we find a new strain that is immune to the vaccines, we may yet need to consider tighter restrictions. The best way to ensure that does not lead to another lockdown is by making big improvements to our test-and-trace system, as I asked our new health secretary Sajid Javid to do in the House of Commons this week.

Far better next time to do what we failed to do last year and successfully quarantine those we need to – rather than the blunderbuss of a national lockdown which has such a devastating effect on schools and businesses.

There’s another reason, too, why lockdowns are so damaging, which is the effect on regular NHS services. We know now that last year 40,000 fewer people started cancer treatment.

That was not because they didn’t need to, but because they weren’t identified as needing it (or were identified but were unable to get to hospital).

Sadly there will have been a number of avoidable deaths as a result – indeed, after the first wave we have around one additional non-Covid death for every Covid one.

I want to help get cancer services back on their feet, so have started a special Select Committee inquiry. We take evidence on Tuesday for the first time.

I want to do my bit locally too, which is why I visited the Royal Surrey last week (pictured below left) to hear about their plans for a new Cancer Institute. I want to help them raise funds and get cracking on the project which will save lives locally and also help turn them into the pre-eminent cancer centre in the south east.

Most importantly, the Cancer Institute will reduce the risk of cancer services being interrupted when we have emergencies, whether a pandemic or a winter crisis.

I am also talking to the chief executive of Frimley about what he needs – more about staff than buildings, something I know the Select Committee inquiry will look into in great detail.

The campaign for a Cancer Institute launches in September so watch this space – and in the meantime, make sure you are up to date with your cancer scans!