16/11/2013 BBC Weekend News

A very good afternoon to you. Doctors and nurses who deliberately

neglect their patients could face criminal charges and up to five

years in jail and a very good afternoon to you. Doctors and nurses

who deliberately neglect their patients could face criminal charges

and up to five years in jail under new plans being put forward by the

government. The offence of wilful neglect would apply to health

workers in England and Wales. It is one of a number of proposals aimed

at making stuff more accountable following the scandal at Mid

Staffordshire NHS Trust. Branwen Jeffreys has the details.

Hundreds of patients suffered appalling neglect at Stafford

Hospital, some died needlessly. A public enquiry called for

fundamental change in the NHS. The government now says that will

include a new criminal offence of wilful neglect. This is not about

criminalising ordinary mistakes that people make. It is about bearing

down on those things which should never, ever happen, where in the

rarest cases staff consciously neglect or maltreat patients.

Doctors and nurses can already face heavy sanctions. They can be banned

from working by their regulators and get sent to prison for criminal

manslaughter by gross negligence. But not for deliberate neglect of

care that might harm patients. Doctors say adding another criminal

offence could lead to a culture of fear. It is worrying to think that

any doctor could go to prison, but there is already legislation in

place which can see doctors removed from their practice if there is any

neglect of patients. What we have to think about supporting doctors and

nurses to raise concerns where they exist and that will involve a

culture shift. Can we see the ladies in here? Hospitals are already under

renewed scrutiny. A new Chief Inspector of Hospitals is working on

a system of ratings. But the government has stopped short of some

of the public enquiry recommendations. There will be no

legal minimum staffing levels, simply guidelines for the NHS. No

regulation of health care assistants, just better training.

The legal duty of candour may be limited to organisations, so doctors

and nurses would not have to disclose mistakes. The offence of

wilful neglect was used to prosecute nurses at the Winterbourne view car

home. It already protects vulnerable children and adults including those

with learning disabilities. The same law could be extended to offer

protection to all patients. Staff -- Stafford Hospital is moving on from

its troubled past but the impact of the failings here are still being

felt across the NHS in England. Our political correspondent Ross

Hawkins joins me in the studio. How significant is this announcement

today? Nobody is pretending this one announcement is going to solve all

these grave problems that we have heard about. You heard the ministers

say, we are talking about the rarest of cases and there will be a much

wider spread of announcements come Tuesday. What you have seen the

Health Secretary try to do is position himself as a champion for

NHS patients against failings in the past. What Labour pointing out in

addition to talking about this, they are saying there could be a real

crunch in the near future as winter comes and accident and emergency

departments come under pressure. Both sides of the debate know that

voters will remember some of those terrible stories of years gone by

but it will be closely scrutinised in how the NHS runs now and asking

whether it will let down patients again in future months.

The Sri Lankan president has dismissed David Cameron's calls for

an independent investigation into alleged war crimes carried out at

the end of the country's civil war. Mahinda Rajapaksa made it clear he

will resist pressure to hold an enquiry. Mr Cameron said if Sri

Lanka refuses he will push for the UN to conduct its own investigation.

James Robbins reports from Colombo. David Cameron took the crease for a

few minutes' relaxation in Sri Lanka. If facing the world's most

deadly test bowler counts as that. Mall restaurant promotes youth

cricket as one form of reconciliation in a country scarred

by civil war, but David Cameron is convinced the government here is

moving far too slowly in investigating the past. He is piling

pressure on President Rajapaksa for a war crimes enquiry and setting him

a deadline. If that investigation is not completed by March then I will

use our position on the UN human rights Council to work with the UN

human rights Commissioner and call for a full, credible and

international enquiry. After the Prime Minister's close-up visit to

the north of Sri Lanka yesterday, where civil war raged until four

years ago, today he acknowledged strongly differing views exist about

the past. Mr Cameron will need support from other UN members to try

to force full government accountability and Sri Lanka's

president seems to reject David Cameron's ultimatum. That is his

will is a democratic country. People who are in glass houses must not

throw stones. The Prince of Wales is keeping is far from the row was

possible. First watching Sri Lankan children at play, before the new

pensioner decides he wants to join in. No hint here of a divisive

Commonwealth Summit overshadowed by Sri Lanka's grim past.

The Foreign Secretary has said that a number of Britons remain

unaccounted for, following the typhoon in the Philippines. William

Hague also pledged continuing support for victims of the disaster.

An RAF cargo plane carrying heavy duty vehicles and medical supplies

has arrived in the Philippines as part of Britain's emergency

response. Seven people have been arrested on

suspicion of murder following the discovery of human remains at the

bottom of a well in the garden of a house in Surrey. The police have

appealed for help in identifying the body. Richard Slee is that the house

in Walling Ham us now. The body was discovered yesterday

afternoon in the garden of a cottage at the end of this cul-de-sac and

for most of today specialist police officers have had the unpleasant

task of trying to recover that body from the bottom of a very narrow

well. Every now and then a police officer

wearing a diving suit and breathing apparatus would emerged to be hosed

down by a colleague. It is thought the body at the bottom of the well

had been there for about two weeks. The police believe it was probably

placed there. The officer leading the investigation says removing it

while at the same time trying to preserve the crime scene had been a

difficult job. The body is white. We cannot tell what gender the body is

at the moment but I can confirm it appears to be an adult. It has taken

a considerable time recover the body because the whale is seven foot deep

in about four or five feet of water. In recent years the cottage had been

occupied by a large group of men from Eastern Europe who worked at a

local car wash. The police say this is a highly unusual case and are

appealing for anyone concerned about a missing person, or who may have

information, to come forward. A postmortem examination will be

carried out tomorrow. Last night seven men were arrested

in connection with murder enquiry and tonight they are still being

questioned at a police station in south London.

Richard Slee reporting live there. One of the greatest ever cricketers,

Sachin Tendulkar, has played his final test match. He said farewell

to tens of thousands of adoring fans in Mumbai as India beat the West

wind is. He scored the most runs in the history of international

cricket. Andrew North was at his final game.

The final sendoff for /10 Dahlgren Mumbai as says goodbye to its

greatest ever cricketer -- Sachin Tendulkar. The result didn't matter,

even though India won. It was all about one month and when the moment

came the tears flowed. His team-mates and the West Indies

giving him a guard of honour as he walked off for the last time. He was

one of those moments when everyone just wanted to be there. -- it was

one of those moments. I will miss him but I am happy because when he

started there, I was not there, but now I am watching the match. Thank

you, Sachin Tendulkar! But some fans are not sure how they will cope. For

me, I am not going to follow cricket any more. Ever since I was a child

cricket was meaning such a lot to me. It is hard to believe how I will

survive. But in India cricket is almost a religion and Sachin

Tendulkar a living God. They don't want to let him go.

England and Wales have been in action in rugby union's autumn

internationals and England suffered their first defeat of the season,

losing 30-22 to the world champions New Zealand at Twickenham. At the

millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales put on a commanding performance

against Argentina. They won the match 40-6.

There is more throughout the evening on the BBC News channel and