25/07/2011 Look East - East

Hello and welcome to a new week on Look East with Susie and me. The

headlines tonight. Too many babies and not enough

midwives, the region's hospitals struggle to deliver.

She famously said no to rehab but Amy Winehouse should have said yes,

according to the drugs expert who offered to help. I'm disappointed

that she didn't actually come here to see other people who were going

through the same process. And I think that's what addicts need,

they need a bit of hope, they need to see people in their position

changing and getting better. Wafting in from paradise, it's not

getting any easier at Luton Airport. And the village shop which has

Hello. The baby boom in this region has left many hospitals unable to

cope with the demand for maternity services. It means more expectant

mums are being turned away from their local hospital. In the

eastern region, births are up by 19% in ten years. And during last

year alone, 92,000 babies were born here. The baby boom hotspot is

Milton Keynes where the number of births has risen by 35%, followed

by Cambridgeshire and then Northamptonshire. But according to

tonight's Panorama programme, that is pushing local maternity units

and midwives to the limit. Some have been forced to send mothers

elsewhere. Last year, for example, Cambridge closed its maternity

wards 28 times to new admissions. Peterborough and Stamford and

Norwich were not far behind. It's led to demands today for more

midwives. Milton Keynes Hospital, and midwife

Rachel has been assigned to care for Kerry throughout her Labour.

Push, push, push. You have been pushing for an hour, so after an

hour, we get the doctor is to review. Three years ago, the

maternity unit was chronically understaffed. Of them the local

coroner called the situation scandalous after three baby deaths

they are seen as preventable. Broadly, morale was down. There was

a shortage of qualified midwives in this country. And Milton Keynes was

not particularly successful in attracting the midwives that there

were. By a hospital had to recruit abroad, and has boosted its numbers

by more than 30 and successfully turned it maternity service around.

Bed shortage is also an issue, Cambridge trust, one of nine across

the region that had to close their doors to expectant mothers last

year. There is a drive to recruit. This degree course in midwifery won

by the University of East Anglia had 400 applicants for 25 places.

You get to share an experience with a woman and her family, it is a

privilege to be hair -- be there and it is a live challenging event.

You have to prioritise women who are more high risk. You have to

time it managed effectively as a midwife. What we want to happen is

that midwives have adequate Briot caseload, an appropriate way of

being able to provide care to women that women expect.

Their health but -- the health service has a twofold dilemma, many

midwives are going part-time and retiring, but there is a bottleneck

of students like these who why yet to be fully trained. -- who are yet

to be fully trained. Maternity care has made a quantum leap in the last

50 years and more older women are giving birth. As many more move it

to the region there is widespread concern that many units are

struggling to maintain the dedicated care that Carey received.

She gave birth to Nate, a healthy baby boy.

Jacqui Gerrard is from the Royal College of midwives, she is in

Leeds now. You recommend your organisation, one midwife for every

28 births. In this region, it is one in 35 or one in 38. What d'you

think about that? That is a concern, the standard to deliver his one in

28. If it varies from that and get higher, there is a concern for

safety for mums and babies. I know you are a mocking midwife yourself,

what is the effect on -- a working midwife yourself, what is the

effect on women when they are turned away from hospital? It can

be pretty devastating and can have an impact in how they are in their

labour and when the baby is berthed. It can have an impact on the

women's experience in the terms of how she relates to her baby. The

best thing to do is to manage services so we are not in a

position where we turn mothers away when they are in labour. Let's turn

to Margaret Berry, associate chief nurse at the strategic health

authority. I have just looked at your website, it says your mission

statement is to deliver a better patient experience. Turning people

away from the hospital when they are pregnant is not a better

patient experience, is it? That may be the case. It also would be very

unwise to provide services from a unit which is overstretched. And

therefore put people's safety at risk. Why can't we get more

midwives into our hospital? They appear to be trading, but there are

not the jobs for them. Are there are paid jobs. We reviewed across

the interview -- across the East of England region, we reviewed the

situation in 2008 initially, looking at the recommendations from

Birth Rate Plus, which is an National recommendation at that

time. We discovered we had about 400 midwives to few, so we set

about a careful performance monitoring programme, increasing

establishments across the East of England. We have recruited an extra

400 midwives but clearly, staffing any area with any type of staff is

going to be a moving feast. There are bound to be fluctuations in

those numbers of staff at any one time. I am sorry to interrupt. Let

me bring Jacqui Gerrard back in. Your experience is that midwives

are being trained, but there are not any funded posts, yes? This is

form a national perspective. The government have printed -- promised

us more commissions next year, but the worry is across England, there

will not be the funded NHS places, and that will be the fact. Margaret

Berry, will there be enough funded NHS places? And there certainly

will be across the East of England, there are at the moment. Most

miffed -- midwifery establishments are being increased in line with

the increase in births at midwifery units. First and foremost, it must

be patient safety. Thank you very much for being with

us this evening. An expert in drug addiction spoke

of his regret today that Amy Winehouse failed to accept his

offer of help. Chip Somers, who runs the Focus 12 rehab unit in

Suffolk, revealed that he spoke to the singer's father about a course

of treatment. Mr Somers said Amy Winehouse would have been alive

There was a certain inevitability about a me's death, as there is

with all addiction. When you start using drugs and drink in a

dependent way, life goes downhill, and it often ends in your life

being really or four or you die. -- really awful. I think the song that

made her famous about we had was a difficult thing for have. Having

made such a public stance about not wanted to go to rehabilitation, it

would have been very difficult for her to come to someone and say, I

was wrong, I need help, can you help me? Bid you ever treat a me,

or did you look at possible -- did you ever treat her or did you look

at possible treatment? We looked at treatment for her, her father came

and looked at the unit. The problem was that families find places, it

is trying to persuade the person concerned that they need help. In

Amy Winehouse's case, she sadly did not take up the offer. What for you

are the most important lessons you learn from this? We need to learn

that we do not glamorise or romanticise really bad behaviour. I

hope that what's good comes out of this, before using drugs today will

take time out to reflect on what they are doing, and see that even

at 27, if you misuse drugs, it will take your life away. And that

people can reflect on that. And also that people can get better.

What happened to Amy Winehouse does not have to be the inevitable

conclusion of drug addiction. People can change and it is never

too late to do so. Chip Somers talking to our reporter earlier

today. For most, it's the start of the

school holidays this week and of course that means a busy time for

our airports. But for some it's been a frustrating time getting

away at Luton Airport. The airport, which led the way in package

holidays, is becoming a victim of its own success. Mike Cartwright is

there now. The worst of the congestion

happened here in the early morning, when we have 40 flight coming in

and out. Be queues can stretch from the M1 down there up to the

terminal. One up passenger described this roundabout as a

bottleneck. You have got a dual carriageway of there, too macro

minor roads are there, and they filled up to the main road up to

the terminal. He described this as horrendous.

Sitting in traffic is stressful. But if you're on a countdown to

catch a flight, it can feel frantic. Passengers today told us they

feared flights would leave without them while they sat in slow traffic

below. We thought we would miss our flight, it was a mad rush, we got

to the airport and it was really busy. It was completely backed up

and we could not jump out because you get charged. At the roundabout

especially, it is such a bottleneck, people could barely get moving.

cause of the problem, the route from the motorway to the airport.

We drove it, from junction 10 on the M1, up the road to junction 10a,

along the dual carriageway, around the roundabout, Amanda -- under the

bridge and into the airport. That is just over three miles, it was a

clear run, it only took five minutes. A journey that at peak

times in the morning can take four -- 30, 40 or even longer minutes.

In the long term its -- it needs a better structure. It is a cul-de-

sac. It needs expanding, I am going straight to the council to see what

we are doing. The council took photographs of the queues every day

for three months. They say the problem is... Junction 10a is over

capacity. Since the Highways Agency improved the M1, traffic comes

straight off the M1 on to junction 10a, that is creating demand at the

junction cannot meet. A Highways Agency say they will work with the

council to improve junction 10a. 10 million passengers fly in and out

of Luton every year, and that figure could raise two 30 million.

Improvements to the road will only happen when the airport, the

council and the Highways Agency find ethics between them.

-- find a fix. The Highways Agency have told us

they will support the council, the boss of the airport said it was a

cul-de-sac. The airport will get bigger, and people say without

improvements, there can -- and will just get worse. -- the congestion

will just get worse. Later in Look East: The first of

our special reports on our athletes heading for the Olympic Games next

year. We've been to the village shop in

Suffolk which has hardly changed in 60 years.

And another day of cloud here in the East, but when will the July

sunshine return? I'll have a full Three people are in hospital after

a crash involving a police car and a taxi in Basildon. The police car

was answering an emergency call. The Independent Police Complaints

Commission is investigating. The busy junction where the crash

happened, still strewn with debris. Just before midnight last night, a

Ford Focus Essex police car with in its siren on and its lights

flashing collided with a taxi, and orange and white London star Taxi.

One of the vehicles collided with his office superstore on the

junction. A resident told me what he saw. It sounded like someone was

kicking in garages, that is what we thought it was. Then the Blues and

twos started going. We saw the taxi crash into the shop. A 30 year-old

police constable, who was driving, and a 19 year-old Special Hospital,

-- special constable, were taken to the hospital along with the taxi

driver. The special constable was transferred to the Royal London. He

has multiple fractures to his head and chest. His family are with him.

Meanwhile taxi-drivers in Basildon said they would do what they could

to help their injured colleague who has a suspected broken pelvis.

taxi drivers know each other. My sympathies go out to the families

and friends of both parties involved. The guys will pull

together, hopefully we will help -- helping pull together through this

time. And possibly have a collection? Hopefully, no doubt the

drivers will have a collection, and we can spread that out.

Independent Police Complaints Commission is now investigating.

The police in Essex are continuing to question a 43-year-old man after

a woman with serious injuries was found at a property in Southend.

The woman, thought to be in her 40s, was discovered in Quebec Avenue

just after 7:30 last night. She died later in hospital. The man has

been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The consortium behind plans for a waste incinerator at this site in

King's Lynn says it wants a meeting with borough council officials. It

comes after councillors voted to oppose the plant. Cory Wheelabrator

says it wants to meet borough officials to address their concerns.

A campaign is underway to save a doctor's surgery in Peterborough

which is threatened with closure. NHS Peterborough plans to shut

three surgeries and replace them with four new health centres. It is

paying off a 12 million overspend, but denies it's about cost-cutting.

Patient Deborah Baillie gets her check-up at Alma Road. She says it

is a wonder her blood pressure is not higher. She is campaigning to

keep the surgery open. I do not want to be part of a bigger surgery.

You lose a lot of the personal care, and not familiarity with the

surgery, but you lose a lot of that. Also it would be too far away,

there is nowhere like that on the doorstep for someone who would not

drive. Its future looks uncertain as the health trust looks to us

make savings. The trust says it is a mistake to save it. We have had

patients who say they were -- and we were there when they needed us

at 10pm at the evening, and I would be concerned about the health of

people in Peterborough. I think there would be risks if we were not

in this place. NHS Peterborough said money saved by closing his

centre would be redirected in two new centres. We have looked

carefully at the health needs of Peterborough, the ideas of local

doctors to improve services in the community, and this strategy is all

about listening to those doctors and presenting plans that will best

meet the needs of Peterborough. consultation of the plan meets next

month, with possible changes coming next year.

Colchester Castle is set to be redeveloped for visitors thanks to

a grant of more than �3 million. The money is coming from the

National Lottery. The whole project will cost �4.2 million. New

displays will be created to highlight the history of Colchester.

The castle will be insulated for the first time. At the moment,

quite an hour -- quite a few of our visitors like the museum but they

query whether Castle is. People will actually be able to see the

castle. Meanwhile, the former home of the

composer Benjamin Britten is to be redeveloped to mark his centenary.

The Red House in Aldeburgh has been awarded �1.4 million by the

Heritage Lottery Fund. The plans include a Britten trail in the

local area. Benjamin Britten lived here at the

Red House in Aldeburgh from 1957 until his death in 19 to be six. He

wrote many of his most important works sitting at a table in an

attic overlooking the garden. Some of the lottery money will pay for

his studio to be restored. studio at the moment has been

converted to an archive store, but we see it as a creative heart of

the site which the public would like to come and enjoy. He was a

real Horder, so we have everything here, the best single composer

archive there is in the world. Benjamin Britten started writing

music, incoherent scraps on paper, when he was four or five. He kept

everything so it has given us a wonderful opportunity to trace how

he developed. Benjamin Britten wrote no's flood just after moving

to the House. Just to see his thoughts, you can see where he has

rubbed things out and changed his mind. The foundation believes that

are seeing things will encourage more creativity 4th. It will be a

room in which all sorts of things can go on, from playing musical

instruments to making a mess, making masks, costumes, and so on.

Relating to the works that Benjamin Britten left behind him. Other new

features planned include a bedroom in Britain have feature around the

town and an exhibition explaining the importance of one of the most

This time next year we will be looking forward to the opening

ceremony of the Olympics in London. It's been six years since London

won the Games and the athletes concerned have been thinking of

little else. So this week is a good time to catch up with our Ones to

Watch, the five athletes who are letting us share their preparations

for London 2012. We start tonight He is the tinker man, Nic Asher.

When he is not tinkering with his sail a boat, it is his car or bike.

He liked to get away from the water, away from the dance -- day-job,

downtime in Lowestoft. He is getting used to setbacks, and he is

getting tired of them. At the time of the last Olympics, he was world

champion but he missed Beijing because his sailing partner was

injured. Now, with the year to go, he has discovered a medical

condition which could blow his chances. His own body is trying to

destroy his thyroid gland. I get a mental fog. And sailing it is a

mental sport, probably 70% mental, and I could not race. The condition

is making him really tired. Before it was diagnosed, he could not

distinguish between being tired because of training or being tired

because he is ill. Now he knows and he is dealing with it, and now it

Wants to know what it is, it you can almost control it again. --

once you know what it is. A lot of people are affected by an

undirected or overactive thyroid, and a lot of people have achieved

great things with it. There is no reason why we cannot get back to

where we were. Missing out on Beijing was really hard, and with

what has happened, we do not want that to happen again. We are

definitely more determined than ever to get there. He had lived

here all his life, he learned to sail two years -- two miles from

where he learnt to ride a bike. But qualifying four London 2012 will

take everything he gets. The crunch comes in December, a metal is a

must at the world championships. No pressure.

Tomorrow night, I will be presenting Look East live from the

Olympics venue at Stratford. With just a year left to go, I'll be

finding out how the park is progressing. And Gail Emms from

Milton Keynes, who won a silver medal at the Olympics in 2004, is

on the radio right now for the start of a new series devoted to

the Olympic Games. You can listen on BBC Three Counties Radio or on

their website. Now when it comes to shopping, it's

often said that service isn't what it used to be. We live in a time of

grumpy assistants and self-service tills. But in the Suffolk village

of Westhall it's very different. Tony Whatling has been running the

village shop for 60 years. Now 85, Tony always delivers service with a

Well, you will not get a better shop anywhere. Tony? He is the best

man in the world. Tony Whatling opened the village shop in Westhall

when he left the mark -- left the Army in 1951. And yes, you has seen

some changes since then. It was closed when I first came here, and

of course, there was rationing. And there was no paper to wrap anything

in. People had to bring a plate to put their bacon on and a jam jar to

put the sugar in. Tony's stores is not so much a shop or a meeting

place -- a more a meeting place. This couple arrive to buy a few

bits and pieces, Derek has popped in to try his luck on the lottery.

She needs some money from the Post Office, and David has been caught

speeding and meet a number it to pay his fine. Could not live

without it, really. It is part of the village. Tony has been here 60

years. There will never be another Tony Whatling. I come every week,

to draw my wages, my pension. we are not feeling up to a lot, I

am, Tony, he says, I will send down to get you a list of what you up --

what you want. That his service for you. Yes, if you do not -- if you

went to Tesco's, they do not want to know. Tony's stores is about 10

shops in one. Clothing, chemist, hardware, stationery, off-licence,

greengrocer, delicatessen, and... Post Office. It is true some items

look as though they have been on the shoals for years, decades, even.

But there is something here for everyone, it even fork handles.

Tony has no plans to retire, which is just as well, because the old

place would not be the same without him.

You know where to go if you want a coronation mug!

That is the kind of story that leaves a smile on your face. Will

Perhaps eventually, but the theme of the week is cloud. The best of

the sunshine was further west today. The reason is low pressure out over

the Losey -- the North Sea, which will make conditions cloudy. Expect

further cloud, but it will gradually turn ormer. -- warmer.

The cloud tonight could produce the odd spot of light rain, but mainly

dry for most of us. The whims become variable for a time, but

they are eventually starting to turn north-westerly and they are

generally light in strength. Four tomorrow, we have got this area of

low pressure. It heads south what, but this other glimmer of hope is

this area of pressure to the south- west. It will turn brighter and

warmer towards the end of the week. There is the risk of the odd light

shower for parts of Norfolk and Suffolk tomorrow, but most places

staying dry, if rather cloudy. Best of the brightness in the West, that

is where the best of the temperatures will be as well. A

touch breezy around the Norfolk and Suffolk coast. Through the

afternoon, it is still stays fairly cloudy, the odd glimmer of

brightness and sunny spells in the west. A five-day forecast, a fair

bit of cloud to deal with on Wednesday, but with more sunshine