02/07/2014 BBC Points West

Daphne Havercroft has been campaigning for greater transparency

in the NHS for years. She ttrned up to its board meeting yesterday to be

told that as a member of thd public she could not ask any questhons

Until recently she had greater power to ask questions before she was

banned as a member of the trust As a member of an NHS found`tion

trust, your job is really to be a critical friend. So, at timds to ask

questions that may be difficult to answer. And to try to shed light on

the decisions being made behind closed doors.

Mrs Havercroft has just recdived this letter from the trust's chief

executive. It says 'some of your information requests have bden

vexatious in nature and your activities have had a detrilental

effect on hospital staff.' The letter accused her of 'grossly

misusing the Freedom of Information Act and said her removal from the

I ask questions. What I do hs I try very hard as an ordinary melber of

the public to hold trust exdcutives and non`executive governors to

account, which the public h`s the right to do.

that helped unearth the crisis in pathology and biopsy screenhng `

where a number of Bristol c`ncer patients were misdiagnosed. It

helped lead to an Independent Inquiry. But Mrs Havercroft wasn't

happy with that inquiry and continued to ask the NHS qudstions

under the Freedom of Inform`tion Act about the actions of senior board

members when they first knew about pathologists' concerns. These

requests were refused as vexatious ` something which was upheld by the

Information Commissioner. I asked the chairman of the board of

governors, Doctor John Savage, if he would be prepared to do an hnterview

to explain the reasoning behind this ban. He declined my request.

Although, as an aside, he s`id, this is not the story. But he promised to

send me a statement. It says: ?This individual has breachdd the

Foundation Trust Constitution by acting in a manner contrary to the

interests of the Trust. We tphold the right of patients and the public

to question how NHS services are run and we will always be open hn

I am concerned that this accusation is being used against peopld who are

simply asking difficult, but really, really relevant questions.

But though Mrs Havercroft is banned, this won't stop her

Wiltshire Police have been granted an extra 12 hours to question a man

who they arrested on suspichon of murder. 60`year`old Tom Rogdrs was

found stabbed to death last Thursday on a cycle path near Swindon's

railway station. Last night a 28`year`old man was arrested in

connection with his murder `nd another incident back in Max `

of robbery and grievous bodhly harm with intent.

The Crown Prosecution Service has said no one will be prosecuted for

manslaughter, following the deaths of three soldiers, including one

from Bath. Corporal James Dtnsby and two others were taking part in a

special forces selection cotrse in the Brecon Beacons on one of the

hottest days last year. Two suspects under investigation will not now

face charges of gross negligence manslaughter. Corporal Dunsby died

of hypothermia and multi`organ failure.

The Government's controvershal badger cull in Somerset and

Gloucestershire is to be ch`llenged in court. A judge has ruled there

should be a hearing into whdther it's legal to resume shooting

badgers. Campaigners claim that doing so without proper monhtoring

would be wrong. Here's our political editor Paul Barltrop.

The bitter argument over thd shooting of badgers as part of

efforts to reduce the disease TB in cattle is set to move from West

Country fields to a London courtroom. A judge has given the

go`ahead for a hearing to ddcide if it's legal for it to resume ` with

reduced scientific scrutiny. Last year's cull was monitored bx an

expert panel, who concluded it wasn't effective or completdly

humane. That stopped it being rolled out elsewhere. Some of the panel, as

well as other scientists, are backing the legal challenge.

Pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire were shown to be a

failure, in the sense that they didn't manage to kill enough badgers

and they didn't kill them htmanely. So, it is good news that thd

Government has decided not to roll out the badger cull more widely I

think what is more puzzling is why they are

said: "culling badgers is one part of our broad strategy" to t`ckle

bovine TB, but "it would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing

legal proceedings." For manx months, ministers have been defensive.

There is no magic solution `nd now one single measure that will on its

own eradicate this disease. TB is an incredibly difficult diseasd to

fight and we need a range of different measures to tackld it

International experience cldarly shows that to have a coherent

strategy to tackle this disdase we must also have... one part of that

strategy should be about tackling it in the wildlife population.

Campaigners had been expecthng the cull to resume by September. They've

welcomed today's news ` it leans the next big confrontation over the cull

will be in front of a High Court judge within weeks.

The High Court played a part in deciding who owns Swindon Town

Football Club. The judge has ruled that current chairman Lee Power is

the majority shareholder with immediate effect. He was wrdstling

for control with businessman and former club chairman Jed McCory

who's been told to pay at ldast ?50,000 in costs.

Thanks for staying up late to watch us. There's of course more news on

the BBC Website. We're back in a few hours with Breakfast from 6.30.

For now, I'll leave you with Ian, who has the latest forecast.

Hello. A very good evening to you. The warming trend continues as we

head into tomorrow. We saw 21, 2 Celsius today. Tomorrow, closer to

23 or 24. Another day of sunny spells and it should stay dry. 0%

or less chance of a shower. We'll see dry conditions developing across

the board tonight. Clear skhes with temperatures typically around 1 or

11 Celsius. Lower than that in some parts of the countryside. A fine and

virtually cloudless start to tomorrow. A bit more fair wdather

cloud starting to develop into the afternoon. The chance of a shower is

negligible and the winds moderate. The pollen count, however, will once

again be through the roof. Temperatures tomorrow, climbing

further up the scale. 24 Celsius in a few spots towards the East.

Similarly warm into Thursdax. More particularly closely on Friday.

Some rain on the way later, and into Saturday.

more cloud on Friday. None of this survives into the weekend, some rain

around on Saturday. It's certainly been a feast of

football again. The temperature in S?o Paulo was much the same as we

had in Glasgow and Bristol. Here, temperatures are set to climb higher

in the next few days. Tonight, rather than Brazil, it's more likely

to be chilly. In rural areas we re looking at low single figures for a

while. Clear skies overnight. It is setting us up for a sunny start to

Wednesday. There will