19/12/2013 Spotlight

Adebowale show nod remorse. That is all from us. Now we join our news

teams where Stranded in hospital for months `

the little boy caught up in a row over the funding of his care.

good evening. Alex Dieterle could have left hospital in September, but

the authorities in Cornwall can't agree who should pay to help look

after him at home. It is not acceptable for any child to be in

hospital over Christmas when they are well. I do not know how long my

son will be with me for. It is a horrible and unacceptable situation.

A shake up for child protection in Devon ` the new man in charge says

it'll take a year to turn the failing service around.

And this will only hurt a bit ` the dentist who was called in to help a

lion with toothache. Tonight the NHS in Cornwall has

apologised to a family whose son has been stranded in hospital for

months. Alex Dieterle, who has cerebral palsy, was admitted to

Derriford hospital for treatment in the summer. Doctors said he was well

enough to leave in September, but since then he's been unable to go

home because the health service and the council in Cornwall can't agree

who should fund his ongoing care. His mother has described the

situation as unacceptable. As John Henderson reports, it also means a

bed is being tied up which could be used by another patient.

Alex has just celebrated his 10th birthday in hospital and he could be

spending Christmas in Burford, too. He has been well enough to go home

for ten weeks but there is a problem, he has cerebral palsy and

his mum needs help looking after him at home. The discharge dates have

been missed because health services and social services have been

arguing who pays for us to go home with support. Alex and his mother

lived in Ghana slick. They arrived there because Alex had a chest

infection. They are now taking up a bed in the children's ward. We are

taking up a bed and other child could use. Surely the cost of

keeping a child in bed for the amount Alex has been, it can't be

cheaper than getting him home, it just can't be. In a statement, NHS

Colonel said they have apologised for the length of time Alex has been

in hospital and said they have been working closely with the family,

consultants and nurses as well as Cornwall Council to put in place an

appropriate package of care to ensure Alex returns home as soon as

possible. His mother wants to make sure it does not happen to anyone

else. It is not acceptable for any child to be in hospital over

Christmas when they are well, but particularly when I do not know how

long my son will be with me for. It is a horrible and completely

unacceptable situation. The NHS say they understood how upsetting it is

for Alex's family, but added, due to patient confidentiality, they were

unable to comment on the specific details of this very complex case.

Spotlight has learnt of a wide`ranging shake up of child

protection services in Devon following a highly critical report

from the regulator, Ofsted. The head of Child and Adult Protection has

left his post. We've also been told it'll take a year to turn around the

failing service. In his first interview, the expert brought in to

improve child protection says progress is being made, but it's a

slow process. Our home affairs correspondent Simon Hall reports.

In May, Ofsted get Devon's Child Protection Services the lowest

ranking available, inadequate. An improvement panel was set up. It

said larger teams of social workers based in local communities should be

set up to provide more capacity to deal with cases, and that there

should be closed or corporation between the council, schools, the

police and NHS to improve early intervention and reduced demand on

child protection services. There are already signs that new

organisational arrangements will be more resilient than what has been

discussed for the last two years. There has been a process of change

over a long period of time and it has never quite been embedded. What

is now being put in place will be in place for giving a stronger platform

to do the job well. The prospects are good. We have learned that the

head of child and adult protection has left his post. Devon council

says he is leaving to pursue new opportunities and a wishing well. I

heard they were making progress in improving children's services. I

think we are making great strides. It is positive to have good comments

coming back from the person giving us oversight. A lot of the building

blocks are in place and come the New Year, we should be in a position to

make rapid progress. Professor Jones will provide reports to the

godmother on how child protection in Devon is progressing. Child

protection services have been under scrutiny in England, in part due to

the baby Peter scandal. That has led to an increased awareness of child

protection issues in the public and a greater willingness to report

them, and that has led to a greater workload for councils dealing with

budget cuts. ?5 million is being spent on

measures to protect the main rail line in and out of the south west

from flooding. Inflatable dams will be used to stop water damaging track

and signalling equipment at Cowley Bridge north of Exeter. There was

chaos when the line was blocked there last winter. Hamish Marshall

reports. When the main railway line became a river. The track at Cowley

Bridge was washed away three times last winter. It was closed for 11

days. It meant delays, cancellations, replacement bosses

and eight diversion on the slow line. That was also affected with

speed limits and landslides from under the line. The service to down

here is not as good as it is to other part of the country. Last

year, the line was down. It is the first time this has been tried in

the UK and the solution is being firmed up. Although the dance my not

be inflated quite as quickly as this, it normally takes five

minutes. They are moved into place and refilled with water to protect

the track and vital line side equipment. If the signal gets

flooded it will take up to four weeks. But is a delay for passengers

and our customers for four weeks. It will block the real way but we can

get normal service pack a lot quicker. The clothes line is not

just bad for the railway industry. Business leaders who have lobbied

for improvements welcomed the plan but want more to be done to stop the

water before it gets near the tracks. We need the infrastructure,

we need the superfast trains, etc, that will allow people to travel

backwards and forwards and we need to encourage business down here. If

you have a substandard system, people are not going to want to

come. The big problem last year was heavy rain falling on top of already

saturated ground. To compare that with this year, Network Rail said

despite the torrential rain of last night, they were nowhere near having

to put the new plan in place. The three dams can be fully operational

within two hours. There was good news for Somerset's

helicopter factory today. The Norwegian government signed a one

billion pound order for a new fleet of search and rescue helicopters,

made by AgustaWestland in Yeovil. We have just heard from Norway that

the contract has been signed for 16 101s at just over ?1 billion.

Helicopter engineers do not really do ceremony, but for half an hour

they paused on the production line to take in the news. We have got

superb products, world`class engineering and a superb workforce.

And this is what today's Foss is all about, the AW 101. If you get stuck

in the Norwegian fjords, this is the difference between life and death.

For Beth, it is a good job. She is one of over 3000 staff here. It

means she can carry on her job. There is nothing better than

watching at flight, bringing it back in, the delivering it to the

customer. It is a huge deal, but what really matters is that this is

not a military aircraft but search and rescue. This company is trying

to wean itself off Whitehall, being less dependent on the MoD and more

open to overseas sales. It is part of a move away from purely UK

military. We are moving towards the three pillars. We have civil,

international and UK Ministry of Defence. It is terrific news. There

is still plenty of work for the Army and Royal Navy but the fortunes of

factories that this often hang on a few key contracts. What really

matters is the ability to export and also to get into the market for

search and rescue helicopters. This could be the best company in the

world because there are innovations are ahead of anything else. And it

was back to work after the speeches. But everybody here and in the dozens

of supply firms will have a much happier Christmas with this deal in

the bag. Two Plymouth`based Royal Marines who

were acquitted of the murder of an injured insurgent in Afghanistan

have been named for the first time today The High Court has lifted an

anonymity order preventing publication of the identities of

Corporal Christopher Glyn Watson and Marine Jack Alexander Hammond. They

were serving with 42 Commando alongside Sergeant Alexander

Blackman, who was sentenced to a minimum of ten years by a court

martial earlier this month. There's been a mixed reaction in the

South West to the government's decision to move 12% of direct

payments for farmers into environmental schemes instead. The

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson made the announcement on the Common

Agricultural Policy today. It means ?3.5 billion will be invested in the

environment and rural development schemes over the next seven years.

But farmers say they will be the ones losing out.

The worrying part about it is there is no justification for this. 9% was

enough to cover the bills. What they are planning to do with the extra

three or 6% is a bit of a boiled it, really.

Later in the programme, we'll be remembering the loss of the Penlee

lifeboat crew 32 years ago. Also still to come...

A surprise encounter with the Prime Minister for a group of children

from Cornwall. And paying the piper ` how one

musician has raised ?10,000 for charity.

There's new evidence from a jail in Dorset to suggest that playing sport

significantly reduces re`offending. A study at the Portland Young

Offenders Institution shows activities like football and rugby

can cut the number of inmates returning to prison by more than

30%. Professor Rosie Meek, who carried out the research. Found

tension and conflict while still in custody was also lessened. Here's

our Dorset reporter, Simon Clemison. The Victorians who built a present

on the Isle of Portland Selt Jail should be an unpleasant place to

deter people from breaking the law. What would they have made of a game

of rugby? Well, they did see the value of exercise. When the current

government came to power, it felt prison should be a punishment, but

that there should be more emphasis on stopping offenders of committing

more crimes. It seems sport is having an impact. Researchers say it

build better relationships between inmates and officers, which helps

off the pitch when men in their late teens and early 20s look at how to

lead a new life. Rules and referees also teach self`control. Here are

the results. The study found that average reoffending rates were 53%

across the country, with Portland coming in below that at 50%. If

those taking part in the sport programme, only 21% were back in a

gear. This is by no means a soft option. Some of these sports `based

programmes can be quite challenging. They are not seen as kicking a ball

about, they are structured programmes. They can be a

challenging form of educational and social intervention. There are

changes to our prison estate. Dorchester closed this week and

there are hopes that Portland can become a resettlement Jail. That

would mean Portland would only house local prisoners before their release

to make links for the outside world. `` with the outside world.