17/03/2017 Look East (West)

First tonight, a new plan to try to ease pressures on our hospitals.

One of the biggest issues is so-called bed blockers,

mainly by elderly patients needing care home places.

Latest figures show Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge

lost more than 700 bed days that way,

while Northamptonshire lost just under 470.

In Hertfordshire they've come up with a pioneering scheme to help.

Preparations for St Patrick's Day at Wisden Court care home in Stevenage.

Facilities like this can often be the best option for patients

But, up until now, the process of finding and booking care beds has

We spend a lot of time on the telephone trying to establish

Now, sometimes there's ten, there could be more homes and phoning

around the homes and actually getting an answer, I could only get

perhaps two answers and yet I had spent all that time on the phone.

Now, the council has come up with a new way

to tackle the problem, an online booking system,

allowing staff to search available places in real-time,

inputting the patient's details, clinical needs and preferences

This can then be picked up by the care home

It means firstly for the residents that they're not hanging around,

they're not waiting in the cold corridor, they're not blocking

For us it means that they're in more swiftly,

we don't have to go out and assess them, all that information

I'm just conducting an assessment for bed 29.

We are looking at a place in a residential

As part of the new system, patients are now seen by

impartial assessors like Heather, working here at the Lister Hospital.

So, I'm effectively the middleman between the care homes and a

And what I do is I conduct comprehensive assessments

to locate suitable homes for residents that are due to be

discharged but also it's saving the time

for care homes to come out and

actually assess themselves, knowing that the information

provided, because I am impartial, is accurate

and is deemed suitable for

This system has been up and running for

several months and from April will be accessible to the public.

she's a full-time carer to her father-in-law Alf

and from time to time needs to book respite care.

It will be very useful to have somewhere straightforward that I can

go to that is going to give me some access to all the information that I

want in one place because sometimes it is quite complicated and there

This is believed to be the first system of its kind in the UK.

And with 353 hospital bed days being saved in just six months,

it's hoped the idea will now spread across the country.

Kate Bradbrook, BBC Look East, in Stevenage.

Computer gaming is a ?4 billion business and

But there's concern that Brexit could end that

if it restricts their ability to recruit across Europe.

An epic voyage into the Viking heartlands and a chance to escape to

a parallel universe at the flick of a button.

More than 30 million Britons play video games every day,

with companies like Ninja Theory in Cambridge feeding the frenzy but

90 people work at this company, a third

The games industry is global and it is moving very,

very quickly and so you find specialists emerging

in order to remain world leaders, we absolutely have to to employ

According to the trade body that represents the

industry, 40% of companies have considered relocating abroad because

Melina is the company's video editor, recruited from

Germany, she also plays the lead role in the new game.

Motion sensitive cameras capturing her every move.

But potential restrictions on who they hire and

from where means that with Brexit on the horizon, that competition

Mousumi Bakshi, BBC Look East, Cambridge.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, two young sailors

were serving off the coast of Chile when an earthquake

The bravery of Frank Burton and Basil Trott, now in their 90s,

was finally recognised today in Cambridge.

A thank you from the Chilean ambassador for what they

did for his country nearly 80 years ago.

1939, two Chilean cities flattened in a devastating

Frank Burton was on HMS Ajax, Basil Trott, HMS Exeter

The Navy launched a humanitarian mission.

Absolutely aghast at the demolition that had

Especially as we had been in that town only a week previously.

The thing I remember most about the earthquake

I had a full pint of beer on the table and the earthquake

happened and the glass went like that and some of the beer

Chile planned to decorate all officers and men but

Finally, for these two veterans in Cambridge, recognition.

We believe that it is never late to recognise

this kind of support, that is why we came here today.

Here today, Frank's great-granddaughter.

He and Basil thought to be the last two to be decorated.

A proud moment for them and their families.

A number of our councils are raising money by setting up

Local authorities have seen their funding cut by 40% since 2010.

They were given the power to set up their own lotteries a decade ago.

Now councils in Daventry, King's Lynn, Peterborough and Corby

are planning to take up the opportunity to raise money

Some clear intervals and a bit patchy rain

And it's going to be mild, temperatures no lower

And quite a blustery west to west northerly wind.

So, tomorrow, again a lot of cloud around.

We might have a bit of rain and drizzle in places but for

many of us, it could be largely dry and hopefully the cloud thinning

and breaking at times to allow a little bit of brightness

Slightly warmer than today with highs of 14 Celsius,

And then Sunday, a bit of a question mark as to what exactly's

But it looks like it's going to be largely cloudy.

A bit of brightness and sunshine but now the better chance

Now, in a moment, Jay will have the national forecast

More like showers with some brightness on Tuesday.

it is rather breezy. Now for the national outlook.

It was quite a wet day across many northern and western parts of the

UK. This was the view in