23/03/2017 Look East (West)

Welcome to the late edition of Look East.

Protests outside a pioneering health centre - as inside a legal battle

Early intervention - how one council's bringing

people together to protect vulnerable children.

First tonight, a protest was held outside

Corby's Urgent Care Centre today amid a legal battle which could

Conditions like broken bones, cuts and sudden back

pain are treated there, things too urgent to wait

for a GP appointment but not serious enough for A

We told you last night there's a row between the people who run it

It's run by Lakeside Plus Limited, a private health care company.

They are paid to run it by the NHS Corby Clincial Commsioning Group,

They commission the health services for around 73,000

patients in the area, with a budget of ?88 million.

The row about the future of this centre has now become a very public

At its centre, the amount paid to treat each patient.

The managers here say that they only get ?44.50 per patient,

below the required NHS level of 57, and because of that,

they can no longer continue running this service.

And at a rally this morning, it was clear whose side

I just feel that Corby Commissioning Group should be putting their hands

in their pocket and paying a fair price for a good service.

Very surprised and very disappointed when

I heard the news and that the commission weren't paying.

People of Corby need this place, it's been wonderful.

We've well-deserved it, I'm Corby born and bred

and we've fought a long time to have something here.

Yesterday, when the management announced it

couldn't run this centre beyond March, the Clinical

their contract runs until the end of November, something hotly

They say they have a contract which clearly states

The CCG went on to say the centre will remain open

Today, in an extraordinary twist, the centre

accused the CCG of misinformation and spin.

The wording that they've used in their release

doesn't reflect the true situation and so that's what we are

saying, it is misinformation because it's not right.

It is spin because what they are doing is implying

something that isn't actually accurate

in terms of securing the future

of an urgent care service for the population of Corby.

Presumably you're talking to them about the transfer

of the centre, are they engaging with you about the future

The centre says because of this lack of communication, no plans

It's a situation the local council says is

We shouldn't be doing this in public,

they should be sorting this out so that residents can feel secure

and know they have that service after March the 31st.

The council has offered to mediate between the two sides.

But there's now just days left for an agreement to be put in place.

Well, Tom Pursglove is the local MP for Corby and has been

working with both parties to resolve the deadlock.

He says he's convinced the centre will stay open.

I was very reassured to hear yesterday that the urgent care

centre will not be closing on the 31st of March,

This is a hugely valued service in our area, in fact,

I welcomed the Secretary of State for Health to come and visit because

personally I think Lakeside Plus have been doing a very,

This is a top quality service so it makes absolute sense, in my view,

for them to continue to provide that service beyond the 31st of March

and so I would encourage everybody to get around the table

Because the CCG won't tell us what their contingency plans are.

Well, I'm a little bit in the dark on this as well.

The CCG have said to me that there will be no interruption

in service whatever happens and I'm determined to hold them to account

But it does seem patently obvious to me that the best way

forward is to settle these contractual disputes that there are

at the moment because Lakeside Plus have been doing a very good job.

Does it worry you that lots of money is being spent on lawyers and

contractual battles that could be spent on care?

I always think that if you can avoid going to lawyers

that is absolutely the best thing to do.

What I want to see is as much money as possible spent on

We've seen quite significant increases in the health

spending budget from government during this parliament

I'm not complacent, there's always more to be done.

But rather than spending money on lawyers, let's get around the

table, let's get these parties together, let's talk about these

contractual difficulties that there are and try and find

a way forward because that's what's

in the best interests of the local people in Corby

and people who rely upon this service.

Next to a pioneering project aimed at protecting vulnerable

The early intervention scheme brings all the agencies

involved together earlier and it's resulted in a 50% drop

in cases of children needing protection plans.

Mike Cartwright has been to meet some of those helped.

So, how's things going since I saw you two weeks ago, Angelina?

Angelina, a mum with two young kids who was in desperate need of help.

Donna, her social worker, helped to dramatically change her life.

I was going through a lot, hiding a lot of things.

My children would see some things that they shouldn't have seen

and, you know, I woke up and realised that they don't need

to see that any more because my boy was hitting me thinking

Now he kisses Mummy and he says, "I want to be like you, Mummy.

Her ability to parent her children was a concern.

They were violent, I mean, very violent where

they would be very abusive, pinching, biting, kicking and mum

Like she said, she had been a victim of domestic abuse.

And that's why it is so important for our domestic

abuse worker to be involved and come on board and support mum with that.

We have seven children within this family...

Child services, substance abuse workers,

Helping parents to improve their home life

It's all here around the table so it's

a much more open and honest approach to the way that we're working

with families and they feel that because they know

that we're all talking to each other

and communicating and they know that there is a team of people

rather than separate pockets of individuals.

A success in Hertfordshire, Luton and Peterborough,

among four authorities to adopt the model.

I suppose instead of turning up with a

clipboard to say to families you're just not good enough

and we are now thinking about putting your children

giving families one more chance to engage.

I've gone from having no confidence and thinking

Let's talk about how nice your shoes are.

A mum and her children, a second chance to be a family.

Mike Cartwright, BBC Look East, Hertford.

So how does what's happening in Hertfordshire fit

Anna, is early intervention being used elsewhere?

Not widely enough according to a government report out this week. It

found too much local authority money is being directed to children who

are already suffering abuse or neglect. Fewer resources are going

to early intervention and to supporting families like we have

seen in the report. For every ?1 spent on preventative help, ?4 is

being spent on reactive child protection work. Children who are

already suffering. What they are saying is later intervention can

result in more children going into care. It is not the local

authority's fault. The number of Children In Need is rising and the

amount of money they have is falling and they have fewer resources so not

enough staff. The other thing that came out in the report is across the

country, there are widely differing approaches to child social care.

What is the government going to try and do about this? One of the things

is funding, looking at encouraging investment in early intervention and

prevention. They are going to look at why there is such a variation in

child social care across the country. They are also good to look

to strengthen duties on schools, health services, police and other

agencies. Exactly as they have done in Hertfordshire. Thank you.

Road policing units in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire

and Hertfordshire say they're still catching drivers

using their mobile phones despite tougher penalties

Today police fined the third foreign HGV driver

caught using a mobile since the first of March.

Anyone caught using their phone behind the wheel will now

receive a fine of ?200, and six points on their licence.

I'll leave you now with a look at the weather with Alex Dolan.

The weather is going to be quite settled over the next few days

well into the weekend and beyond with high pressure

For now, it's still the brisk north-easterly wind and that will

mean temperatures don't drop as low as they perhaps could do.

There are some areas of clear sky but also

some cloud coming in as we go through to the night,

so perhaps four, five Celsius our lowest value for tonight.

We start the day tomorrow with this area of high pressure

establishing itself across the British Isles so perhaps a

little bit of cloud first thing but lots of bright weather, some fine

spring sunshine and those winds easing, still coming from the

north-east but it should feel slightly warmer tomorrow

So, temperatures are likely to get to around 12,

And it stays fine and dry with some lovely spring sunshine

The national weather's coming up but here's the outlook.

And another fine, warm, sunny day on Saturday.

A little more cloud around on Sunday and that could mean for a

part of the weekend. 1415 degrees. Still quite breezy. Here's Thomas

with the national