12/02/2016 BBC Wales Today

exclusive investigation. That's all from BBC News at Six PM.

Tonight's headlines: After a bitter war of words,

a major review finds the health service here is no better or worse

Unlike what David Cameron has said the Welsh NHS is not worse than the

NHS in England. After what he said last year about our doctors and

nurses in Wales, I think it's time we had an apology.

However, the report suggests the NHS here is far from perfect and needs

Also tonight: Margaret Hiorns died from a blood clot

A coroner says there were shortcomings in her care.

And, a friend of Cheryl James, who died at Deepcut Barracks,

tells an inquest senior staff were trying to keep them quiet

Wales haven't lost to Scotland here for 14 years.

The players had a final run-out this morning.

Among them, Dan Biggar, back fit after injury.

Fans are being urged to turn up to the game early tomorrow.

Security's stepped up at the stadium, a response to last

The First Minister, Carwyn Jones, says David Cameron

should apologise for consistently attacking the NHS in Wales.

It comes as a major new report says the care

we get here is no better or worse than in the other nations of the UK.

But international experts from the Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development say the NHS in all four UK countries

Our health correspondent Owain Clarke reports.

What's a fair reflection of the state of the Welsh NHS? What's the

true story behinded headlines? The only thing that's clear is it's a

complicated picture. Without this, Kenneth Jones shattered leg bones

wouldn't heal. He fell 15 tight from a wall last summer. His injuries

were so severe he had to be transported by air ambulance

straight to Morriston Hospital. Experts in trauma and plastic

surgery worked together to get him on the mend. Years ago I would have

probably lost my leg. But the Professor has been very good. He's

taken me through all the procedures I have gone through, explained

everything to me. Everything that's happened and what they intend doing.

The NHS across Wales saves and rebuilds lives everyday but the

spotlight often falls on days cases where care hasn't been up to

scratch. But do they reflect a deeper problem? That question's been

at the centre of a bitter political row. Rewind to a year last October.

The Daily Mail published a series of front page splashes it claims

exposed substandard care in Wales. At the same time, the Conservative

Health Secretary at Westminster told MPs the patients in Wales were

getting a second-class health service. The Welsh Labour health

Minister hit back, accusing Jeremy Hunt of spreading a tissue of lies.

Letters flew back and forth between Cardiff and London.

The implication from the UK Government was that the Welsh

Government didn't want international experts to compare the NHS here with

England. An accusation strongly denied. This 300-page report is what

the fuss was all about. Painstakingly put together by

experts from the OECD in Paris. The most comprehensive analysis ever

perhaps of quality of care in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern

Ireland. And when the OECD has something to

say, people tend to lips be. It suggests no one -- people tend to

listen. It suggests no one outperforms the others but argues

they all must improve and learn from each other. Given survival rates

across the UK for certain types of cancer are average or disappointing.

But there are concerns that health boards in Wales established seven

years ago have failed to change and improve care locally. The centre has

a very general view on what should be happening. But then leaves it to

the health boards to decide in each little authority how you actually

improve healthcare, how you structure healthcare. It should be

let 1 thousand flowers bloom. When we look at the results we don't see

much change. The review calls for the Government to take more direct

control of the way the NHS is run. In contrast, the OECD argues the

English health system is too complicated, too confusing with too

much central control. I pity sometimes people working in the

English health system. There's so many reforms. So many different

institutions. You must spend hours just trying to understand who you

should be talking to, who you should be reporting to in the system. But

this review didn't look at waiting times and critics claim they're too

long in Wales. Nevertheless, the Welsh Government feels vindicated.

We have seen a report today that shows that unlike what David Cameron

has said, the Welsh NHS is not worse than the NHS in England. After what

he said last year about our doctors and nurses in Wales, I think it's

time we had an apology. If you look at the UK, the whole of the UK at an

international comparison, we are about in the middle. We must not

come out of this celebrating mediocrity, that would be sad. At

one point Kenneth Jones thought he would lose his leg but due to the

care and expertise of the Welsh NHS he is on his way to recovery.

Kenneth is doing well. But the OECD message is clear - the NHS could do

better and not just in Wales, but across the UK.

I'm joined now by our Welsh affairs editor Vaughan Roderick.

The First Minister was suggesting there that this is a victory for the

Welsh Government but it's not that simple, is it? No. Although it may

be significant that Downing Street hasn't responded to this report. I

think it's fair for the Welsh Government to say that those words

of David Cameron about the board between England and Wales lying

between life and death were hyperbottlic when you look at what

this report says. As it was pointed out it didn't look waiting times,

where it's factually correct to say in a number of areas patients in

Wales wait longer for treatment than they do in England. On top of that,

Labour have been in charge of the health service in Wales since 1997,

that's almost 20 years. Is it a great achievement to say we are no

worse than England? After two reorganisations, two major

reorganisations, to have a system that the OECD says isn't really

delivering the system of local health boards, so, what it suggests

is maybe the UK Government, maybe they were playing politics when he

criticised the hasn't service but really this isn't something you

should be proud of in terms of what it's achieved and how it compares to

other health services in other parts of the developed world. Does this

mean that health will be less of an issue in the Assembly elections? I

don't think it will. I think what it does do is to give the Labour Party

a defence, if you like, that every time they're attacked on health, I

can see them going back to this OECD report. The way around that for the

opposition parties, though, is to keep their attacks narrowly

focussed. Not do what David Cameron did and do it's a second-class

service, but to keep focussed on those areas that are of concern to

people, we know the problems of one board in the north, waiting times

and so on so it will still be a major issue. Thank you very much.

The man in charge of investigating the death of a Welsh soldier has

denied he and his colleagues did not look at the case thoroughly enough.

Surrey Police re-investigated an original conclusion by the army

that Private Cheryl James from Llangollen, killed herself

at Deepcut Barracks in 2002 after claims of bullying.

The former head of CID at the Surrey force was giving evidence

Paul Heaney reports from Woking coroner's court.

When private James Father gave evidence this week he suggested the

police investigation into his daughter's death was cursary and not

thorough enough. There was an emphatic denial that was the case

from the man in charge of the investigation at the time here today

who described the investigation as extremely well run and well led.

Former detective chief superintendent DenHama was asked

about the theory. It's feasible she shot herself the officer told. The

suspect, who was someone who was close to Cheryl said yeah, but I

can't think of a reason why she would do that. Denham said that

exchange had to be seen in the wider context of a longer police

interview. He admitted one of the officers chatted up witnesses at the

time but resigned before the force could sack him.

He took issue with the suggestion that he tried to move the spotlight

away from the Army and away from murder theorys at the time, he said

the way the media reported the deaths at Deepcut in 2002 was wrong.

It was portrayed that there was a murderer on the loose and he was

simply trying to get the media to look at many - high at the time. He

was asked is there any credible proper evidence suggesting third

party involvement in chaerl's death? He replied, there wasn't, sadly. --

Cheryl. The inquest continues. Cardiff council says it will cut 138

posts as part of plans to find ?32 million in savings

from next year's budget. It says the decision follows

a month of consultation. Their budget proposals will go

before the Cabinet on Thursday, before they're considered

by the full council at the end Two cousins were killed

when they crashed a stolen car into a wall at 4.00am

in the morning. The inquest into the death

of Dean Casey, who was 17 and Patrick Casey, who was 27,

heard that the pair had been driving at 90mph through a 30 zone

in Briton Ferry when they died. An inquest into the death

of a 12-year-old boy has heard he was having fun and doing

what boys do when he fell Ethan Brady-Rainey from Trefor,

near Llangollen, was collecting conkers with friends when he fell

from the swing into the River Dee A verdict of accidental

death was recorded. There were shortcomings in the care

of an elderly patient who died from a blood clot

after being treated at Glangwili The findings of a coroner

at the inquest of 85-year-old She was originally admitted

with a chest infection but suffered complications, after being treated

with a blood-thinning drug. Margaret Hiorns went into hospital

with just a chest infection but within weeks her condition

was steadily deteriorating. Her son, Michael, told a coroner

today that his mother had suffered Mr Hiorns explained to the inquest

that when his mother was admitted to Glangwili Hospital she was put

on an anti-coagulant drug He alleges she was given this drug

for too long and she wasn't properly monitored in terms of

potential complications A few weeks later Mrs Hiorns

developed a haematoma, severe bruising all down her back

from internal bleeding and had Her health worsened and she died

the next month of a blood clot. Her son gave detailed evidence

at the inquest today about her treatment

at Glangwili Hospital, outlining what he said amounted

to a catalogue of neglectful acts. No one else should have

to suffer like this. There's guidance and there's

documentation in place, people are aware how

dangerous this drug is. Not dangerous, but how keenly

it must be monitored. In a statement

the health board said. And having reviewed the guidance,

they are satisfied that the dose of Tinzarapin his mother

received was appropriate. They went on to apologise

for the shortcomings in her care once the internal bleeding had

developed and said they had taken In reaching a narrative verdict,

the coroner highlighted shortcomings in the management of Mrs Hiorns'

care at Glangwili Hospital and said he would be writing to the chief

executive to flag up the importance of monitoring patients and to ask

them to look at the issue around the prescription of

that drug Tinzarapin. Still to come tonight: Ahead

of tomorrow's Six Nations match, we're in the CCTV control room

of the stadium finding out how And, we meet the extraordinary

pianist performing at the opening of a Beethoven Festival who's

been blind from birth. Welsh graduates who stay in Wales

or come back here to work after university would

have part of their debts written off, if Plaid Cymru

came to power after May's Assembly The party claims the Welsh

Government's current system of subsidising

students' tuition fees Jennifer Jones joins

me from the newsroom. What exactly are Plaid Cymru

proposing? Simply, Plaid Cymru are proposing to change the focus of

student funding from where you study, to where you work after you

graduate. They would reward those Welsh graduates who stay in Wales or

come back here to work within five years of leaving university by

writing off ?6,000 worth of debt every year. So a student who studies

for three years would have a total of ?18,000 written off their loans.

At the moment Welsh students, wherever they choose to study in the

UK, pay the first ?3810 of their annual tuition fees. The rest, up to

a maximum of ?5190, is paid for by the Welsh Government. Plaid Cymru

have always claimed that this particular Welsh Labour policy is

unsustainable and that it effectively subsidises universities

outside of Wales. Plaid Cymru claim that the proposed policy would still

ensure that Welsh students can study at the university of their choice,

but that the Welsh economy would also benefit from their talents.

Tuition fees could be a major dividing line then in the run-up to

the Assembly election? Yes, there is complete political disagreement when

it comes to stund funting. -- to student funding. Welsh Labour

say that the current grant system has supported and protected Welsh

students and that's after the UK Government raised university tuition

fees in England. Now the Welsh Assembly Government is reviewing the

funding arrangements for universities in Wales at the moment

and that includes the tuition fees grant but it isn't due to publish

that report until after May's Assembly election.

Thank you. The first home game of this

year's Six Nations is less Tomos is at the Principality

Stadium for us. The pitch looks good and all day

they've been rehearsing the pyrotechnics show that will be

welcoming the Wales team. Wales go into the game in confident mood.

They haven't lost to Scotland here in Cardiff in the Six Nations since

2002. Scotland are enduring a miserable

run of results in the competition, Wales started with a draw in Dublin

last week. No team has gone on to win the championship after starting

with a draw. That won't bother Wales coach Warren Gatland. Now the latest

from the Wales camp. Training hard and going through

those last-minute preparations. That may have been a slight grimace

on the face of Dan Biggar this morning, but the number 10 has fully

recovered from his foot injury, So on the eve of the Scotland match

what's the general Determined to repeat the success

Wales had the last time Scotland With eight tries, it was

a record 51-3 victory. Wales have been criticised for not

scoring enough tries of late and will be hoping to adopt

an attacking style of rugby We do want to play a bit

more this campaign. We have said that openly,

but firstly we do want to make sure we get ourselves in the game,

get points on the board. But if it does loosen up

and we are chasing tries to win In this fixture 30 years ago,

the victory over Scotland is remembered for a

record-breaking moment. Paul Thorburn is going

to attempt a goal. I had a basic routine,

four steps back, three to the left but for this particular kick

I thought I needed more of a run-up. So just put it down and ran

in and gave it a bit of a hoof. At 64.2 metres Paul Thorburn's

penalty is still the longest successful kick in an international

Test match. Bill McLaren, generally,

was a fabulous commentator, He added something to

that particular moment. I have never seen

a kick like this one. Back to the present,

and centre Jonathan Davis is preparing to win his

50th cap for Wales. I have played a lot of those Tests

alongside him and I know how good And what he can offer the side

and it's a relationship that's Charged to lead his team

to their 9th win over Scotland, is Wales coach Warren Gatland,

he's never lost to the Scots. They've improved as a side,

under Vern Cotter. They haven't won a Six Nations game,

I hope that continues on Saturday. I am good mates with him,

but he can wait for someone else before he wins a Six

Nations game, please. There have been some extremely close

encounters in recent years but having won every home game

against Scotland since 2002, These fans, however,

may not agree. Well, 74,000 fans, who'll be

descending on the stadium tomorrow, are being warned to expect

increased security checks. Tomorrow's game is the first major

event here since the attacks While there is no specific

threat to South Wales, the stadium manager told me

security's been stepped up But when tens of thousands turn up

tomorrow there'll be a team of people keeping an eye

here at this control room. Over here is the CCTV

camera operators... 80 cameras in and around the stadium

and from here police can monitor hundreds more cameras right

across the city and the M4. We're enhancing the security around

the Six Nations matches so come early to avoid the slight delays

on the gates and if you can avoid bringing a bag or a large

rucksack, then do so. Why have you decided

to step up security? It's not just us stepping up

security this is across We fall into the remit of the safety

advisory group, on which the South Wales Police also sit,

looking at the events that have happened in Paris,

we have made a considered decision across Cardiff to step up

the security levels They'll see extra searches

on the search lines and a police Lots of other things

happening behind the scenes, After some fans complained

of overcrowding and long queues during last year's rugby World Cup,

the message to fans today - Ideally arriving at least three

hours before kick-off. Rail companies won't want

a repeat of these scenes, Arriva Trains Wales

is laying on more carriages As many as 40,000 will travel home

by train, queuing After being stung by criticism last

year, rail bosses are urging passengers to plan their journey

in order to minimise disruption Wales women play on Sunday,

they've made four changes, including captain Rachel Taylor,

being out with a rib injury. Elsewhere, a week after beating

Ireland in Dublin scoring four tries, the under-20s are taking

on Scotland at Eirias Park Football, and the Wales midfielder

Joe Allen could be a doubt for the friendlies against

Northern Ireland and the Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp,

says a muscle injury will keep him Allen's former club, Swansea City,

take on Southampton tomorrow. Meanwhile, Cardiff City's Russell

Slade says he wants to stay beyond this season

when his contract runs out. He says he didn't discuss his future

though with owner Vincent Tan during his current

visit to South Wales. Slade also revealed

that the Malaysian businessman has offered the players some advice,

telling them to shoot at goal more. Newport's game against Carlisle

kicks off at 1.00pm. Wales have won each of their last

eight games against Scotland. See if they can make it a lucky nine

tomorrow. The game is live on BBC One Wales. And S4C. Commentary on

BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. We will bring you all the reaction

tomorrow evening on BBC One Wales. Lucy, you won't miss a thing.

Looking forward to it, thank you so much.

Rachel Starritt from Bridgend started playing the piano

But her lessons were very different to most children's of that age

as she is blind and unable to see the keys or music.

Now 21 years old, and a music student,

Rachel was chosen to perform at the opening concert of a Festival

A virtuoso performance on the keyboard playing music

from the most celebrated composers in the classical world.

Technique like this takes a huge level of skill based on years

In Rachel Starritt's case, that practice is made all the more

difficult when there's no written music in front of her.

Blind from birth, she's had to memorise the notes of whole

I think, personally, you have to learn in a different way almost.

You have to learn by feel, you have to develop a greater sense

of hearing and a greater sense of choreography,

Rachel, who's from Brackla in Bridgend, first started lessons

when she was six and always wanted to pursue a career in music.

When you're playing long with your left hand,

She's now a second year student at the Royal Welsh College of Music

and Drama and has had specialised teaching for the last ten years.

For me, the whole challenge was to try to enable the technique

so that the understanding she had could flourish so my whole role

really with Rachel is to enable, I would say.

I probably don't go into that much detail with my sighted students

Rachel's the first blind student to study here and her hard work

This week, she was centre stage in the prestigious Beethoven: Music

He's a composer Rachel says she can relate to,

as he faced his own struggle after losing his hearing.

Wonderful. Well Derek is here. What is ahead this weekend?

We are in for a wintry mix this weekend. Keep the hat handy. It's

going to stay cold over the weekend and into next week. A chill in the

air today. Sunshine in places, but cloudier than yesterday. This

picture was taken by one of our weather watchers in Goodwick and

shows plenty of cloud over Stumble Head. We weren't sure about this

weekend, less rain is now expected tomorrow. Still a little snow in

places on higher ground, including the heads of the valleys but no warn

initial force. This evening, most of the country is dry. One or two

showers here and there. Later in the night, we may see rain spreading

into the south and east. Sleet and a little snow on higher ground.

Temperatures staying above freezing in many places but a few spots will

fall to zero. Tomorrow low pressure will move in from the Atlantic.

That's going to bring rain and stronger winds to France. Close to

home, here is the morning. Grey and damp in places. A little sleet and

snow on higher ground. The hills and mountains too. Parts of the north

and north-west should be dry. Brighter on Anglesey with a brisk

wind on the peninsula. During the day further spots of rain and sleet

and snow on higher ground. Maybe a few centimetres on the Brecon

Beacons and Black Mountains. Dry weather, as well. Parts of the north

and west dry. Top temperatures reaching three to six with an east

or north-easterly breeze. If you are heading to Cardiff for the rugby,

grey and damp at times. Cold too but some dry weather. Sunday should be a

better day. A cold wind. But one or two wintry showers but generally

turning dryer and brightening up with some sunshine and don't forget

it's Valentines day. Very romantic. Derek, thank you very much. That's

Wales Today from all of us, thanks for watching, bye.