28/03/2014 BBC Newsline

Good evening. The deaths of five babies are among 11 under

investigation at the Northern Health Trust. The Health Minister Edwin

Poots has told the Assembly that he's been made aware of 20 cases

since 2008 in which the care at a number of the trusts' hospitals fell

below standard. Our health correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly

reports. It is not the first time the Northern Health Trust has been

the focus of criticism. Amid concerns, a team was appointed in

2012 to improve its performance. As a result, a number of cases have

emerged where the care provided to patients fell below standard. These

are described by medical professionals as serious adverse

incidents, and today the minister spelt out details. In total, he said

20 cases have emerged. 11 of those involved deaths. Five involved

Davies born prematurely all this than a month old. -- or less than a

month. The Trust is now carrying out a review of procedures surrounding

obstetrics and gynaecology. It plans to implement any recommendations.

Since the review began, the reporting of serious adverse

incidents within the Trust has increased by 50%. This is not good

enough. Certainly, we apologise to the families involved, it is clearly

a failure on our part. A serious failure? Yes, a serious failure,

something we are addressing, we have addressed, and continue to work on

to make sure it does not happen again. It is a culture which takes a

while to develop. Why wasn't it discovered five years ago? That a

series. Indeed. All I can say is that we are now, and have been for

the last many months, addressing that, here within the trust, to turn

it around. The trust is confident that its review has been thorough.

In these 20 cases, it is not yet clear whether any of the 11 deaths

were avoidable. But the very possibility is something that any

medical professional, or indeed Minister, will take seriously. For

the majority of people who attend the Northern Health Trust,

undoubtedly, the outcome is successful. But no one is disputing

that, for these families, this is a very distressing time. Speaking

earlier on BBC Newsline, the Health Minister Edwin Poots explained what

led him to bring the issue to the attention of the public. They

identified that governments was weak. In 2011, the team identified

problems. We put in two senior directors and it was a senior

directors who have identified these issues. We have got the matter to my

attention and I have bought it to the attention of the public,

straightaway. The police found a mortar bomb and a command wire

during a major security operation in west Belfast overnight. Homes on the

Glen Road were evacuated. Two weeks ago dissident republicans fired a

mortar bomb at a police patrol on the Falls Road. Our Home Affairs

Correspondent Vincent Kearney reports. An undercover surveillance

operation is believed to have led to the seizure of a mortar bomb last

night. Police believe they may have foiled an imminent attack. The

device was found by police found a man walking in this area of West

Belfast at around 11pm last night. They seized a holdall containing a

home-made mortar bomb and command wire. A 22-year-old man was arrested

and is being questioned in Antrim. Army bomb experts made it safe and

it was taken away for forensic examination. There were road

closures and several families were moved from their homes. The alert

ended short after 8am this morning. People have been too many years of

conflict and they must now move on. Whether or not it is an upturn in

activity, I just know that people wanted to stop. The seizure comes

two weeks after the dissident group fired a mortar at a police vehicle

on the Falls Road. A father and three children were badly shaken in

debris. The device was also an improvised mortar and was detonated

by command wire. However, it is understood the incidents are not

being linked. A different dissident republican organisation is believed

to have been responsible for the device found here last night. A man

has appeared in court charged with the murders of two Catholic workmen

in North Belfast 20 years ago. 44-year-old Eamon Fox, a father of

six, and 24-year-old Gary Convie, a father of one, were shot dead in the

UVF attack in North Queen Street in May 1994. Today at Belfast

Magistrates Court, charged with their murders was 48-year-old James

Stewart Smyth from Forthriver link in North Belfast. He's also accused

of trying to kill another man and having a sub-machine gun, with

intent to endanger life. Mr Smyth, who denies the charges, was refused

bail. Officials from the Food Standards Agency are investigating a

case of suspected milk fraud in south Armagh. The fraud's thought to

involve farmers in the Republic avoiding a levy for going over their

EU milk quota by smuggling the excess over the border to farmers

here, who then sell it on. A milk tanker has been removed from a farm

just outside the village of Belleek. Officials have also examined a lorry

filled with plastic tanks. Cancer researchers at Queen's University

have made a discovery that means women at high risk of breast and

ovarian cancer could in the future be treated with drugs, rather than

surgery. At present, women who carry a mutation in the Bracca one gene

are predisposed to have an 85% risk of breast cancer and 45% of ovarian

cancer. Helen Jones reports. Caroline's extended family. Despite

the smiles, seven people in this photograph carried the BRCA1 gene.

Caroline, her four sisters and one of the two brothers. Her niece Sarah

has also tested positive. Their world started to fall apart when one

of the sisters was being treated for breast cancer. She had to cope with

cancer, then she got the bad news of the gene, then she had to have more

surgery to protect yourself from the gene. That included a bilateral

mastectomy and the removal of ovaries. She was coping with that,

we were supporting her, and we were being tested and, one by one, it was

coming back positive, positive, positive. Each of the five sisters

opted for surgery, but research being carried out by Queen's

University Belfast could provide an alternative. What the research means

for women is that we may be able to use drugs we already have available

to reduce oestrogen levels and prevent cancer forming. That means

we may be able to prevent it with drugs rather than giving surgery.

These are reversible drugs, so they could possibly have these drugs for

an amount of time to prevent cancer, come off the drugs and have children

and go back on to help prevent cancer in the future. The drug will

now go on trial. Football: Derry City have drawn 0-0 with St Pat's

Athletic at the Brandywell. And in the Irish Premiership, it was Ards

two, Warrenpoint Town, two. Time now for the weather with Angie Phillips.

Good evening. It is not a very exciting forecast as we spring

forward into British summertime. Plenty of cloud, some rain around,

and quite breezy. On a positive note it should start to feel milder. We

have cloud and showers continuing to edge in on that easterly breeze. You

might get a break in the night, but with more showers approaching from

the south later, some of those could be heavy with the risk of thunder.

Tomorrow, still breezy with spells of rain, particularly in the morning

with that band of rain edging its way north. Some of it could be

heavy. It drives up for some time in behind. Across the Republic of

Ireland, it will dry out with some bright spells during the morning.

Then we have rain coming in from the east in the afternoon. Cloudy for

eastern Scotland, but for the rest of Scotland, much of England and

Wales, dry, sunny, particularly in the south-east, getting up to

possibly 20 Celsius. Coming back to Northern Ireland for the afternoon,

we might get some bright weather but generally, it will be cloudy with

some patchy rain in southern counties. Hi temperatures of 12

Celsius. The clocks forward an hour tomorrow, into Mother's Day on

Sunday, starting off cloudy with some patchy rain, hopefully dry and

brighter in the afternoon, with high temperatures of 13 Celsius. That's

it for now. You can keep up to date with News Online and