:00:14. > :00:18.Left waiting in an ambulance for over one hour. We will ask why. We
:00:18. > :00:22.will ask why they are failing to hit targets to get patients from
:00:22. > :00:27.other ambulance into hospital with an 15 minutes.
:00:27. > :00:32.Parents driven abroad for unlicensed treatments.
:00:32. > :00:42.People should not be put in that our position. I wish they could do
:00:42. > :00:43.
:00:43. > :00:48.something. 100 years on we celebrate the birth of Britain's
:00:48. > :00:58.first air force. We go into the Essex countryside to see how this
:00:58. > :01:02.
:01:02. > :01:12.base has been rediscovered. We end I first came here I was gobsmacked.
:01:12. > :01:24.
:01:24. > :01:29.The stories that matter where we Tonight we are in Norfolk. If the
:01:29. > :01:39.year 100 children will be diagnosed with new robust, - an aggressive
:01:39. > :01:44.
:01:44. > :01:50.cancer. -- neuroblastoma. Parents are being driven abroad to seek
:01:50. > :01:53.treatment. On a rainy day in June a desperately ill girl is flown to
:01:53. > :01:58.the UK from Mexico. Olivia Downie is brought back home
:01:58. > :02:02.so that she can die at home. She had gone to a private clinic in
:02:02. > :02:09.Mexico for treatment - for cancer. It's a trip her mother wishes she
:02:09. > :02:14.had never made. All we wanted to do was help her
:02:14. > :02:17.but it didn't quite work out like that. Now every time I think of
:02:17. > :02:27.Olivia I think of the trauma on her face before she went into life
:02:27. > :02:30.
:02:30. > :02:40.support. That's the last time we saw her alive and I don't think
:02:40. > :02:50.parents should be put in our position. I wish I could do
:02:50. > :02:53.something to prevent other parents being put in our position.
:02:53. > :02:56.I think it is making false hope and false claims to patients and
:02:56. > :02:58.parents and I can understand these patients and parents are so
:02:58. > :03:06.desperate they would give everything they have and pay
:03:06. > :03:12.everything if someone promised them a cure. It easy to promise but it
:03:12. > :03:16.is difficult to stick to the promise.
:03:16. > :03:19.Olivia was helped by a charity based here in Hunstanton in Norfolk.
:03:19. > :03:24.We ask why parents are so desperate they are sending their children for
:03:24. > :03:27.these unproven and unlicensed treatments.
:03:27. > :03:32.Neuroblastoma is a cancer that affects the nervous system of
:03:32. > :03:35.children. It is usually not diagnosed until it has spread and
:03:35. > :03:40.the majority of children do not survive.
:03:40. > :03:43.Olivia Downie had been ill since she was four. In June last year
:03:43. > :03:50.doctors said there was nothing more that could be done for her in the
:03:50. > :03:54.UK. Lauren decided to send her to a clinic in Mexico.
:03:54. > :03:59.She wasn't expecting a miracle but to give her more time and to ease
:03:59. > :04:03.her daughter's pain. The only real questions I had asked
:04:03. > :04:08.was what was the worst thing it can do to Olivia and we knew it was
:04:08. > :04:13.going to cause more pain before subsiding the pain. But she went
:04:13. > :04:19.into a lot more pain and never came out of it. That is when her lungs
:04:19. > :04:22.started filling with fluids. At the Hope4Cancer institute Olivia
:04:22. > :04:29.was given an experimental drug called the BX Protocol. Impressive
:04:29. > :04:39.claims are made about it in an online advert.
:04:39. > :04:45.
:04:45. > :04:51.The vaccine is described as being as powerful as a forest fire.
:04:51. > :04:54.cascades like a forest fire. You can see why parents are swayed.
:04:54. > :05:02.The clinical director at Hope4Cancer claims to be able to
:05:02. > :05:06.save over 20 per cent of terminal patients.
:05:06. > :05:09.I could tell you the success rate for stage IV cancer in general. The
:05:09. > :05:13.success rate is 70 per cent. What does that mean? That means that of
:05:13. > :05:18.these patients in stage IV, 70 per cent of them will get five times
:05:18. > :05:25.past their expected diagnosis. 30 oer cent of the 70 per cent go into
:05:25. > :05:30.full term remission. It is not a claim the clinic should
:05:30. > :05:32.make as there is no evidence to back it up.
:05:32. > :05:39.Professor Rupert Handgretinger is a top paediatric cancer specialist in
:05:39. > :05:42.Germany. He is deeply concerned about these treatments in Mexico.
:05:42. > :05:52.If these clinics have something good to offer and they can really
:05:52. > :05:53.
:05:53. > :06:01.claim they can cure cancer then they should show us the data. With
:06:01. > :06:11.good date that and appropriate all up it would be worthwhile to go
:06:11. > :06:13.
:06:13. > :06:20.there but we have not seen such a tough. -- such that a. I would not
:06:20. > :06:23.recommend patients caught there. -- go there.
:06:23. > :06:25.The charity in Hunstanton which helped raise money for Olivia is
:06:25. > :06:29.called Families Against Neuroblastoma or FAN. It was set up
:06:29. > :06:31.by Linza Corp who lost her son to the disease in 2009.
:06:31. > :06:34.The charity helps families raise funds for conventional and
:06:34. > :06:38.alternative treatments. Since the beginning of the year it has helped
:06:38. > :06:42.three children go to Mexico. They've all since died.
:06:42. > :06:46.It was Olivia's parents' decision to send her to the clinic in Mexico
:06:46. > :06:50.and other families who've gone have also made that decision themselves.
:06:50. > :06:57.Linza Corp still believes it has to be the parents' choice even if that
:06:57. > :07:02.choice is the Hope4Cancer clinic. Why are parents travelling to
:07:03. > :07:07.Mexico? Mexico is just one example of places that parents are having
:07:07. > :07:10.to travel to because they have been left with no alternatives. Families
:07:10. > :07:14.with children with Neuroblastoma in the UK have a very limited
:07:14. > :07:17.opportunity of getting treatment here in the UK.
:07:17. > :07:20.We are not an organisation to make decisions for people. We are just
:07:20. > :07:26.there to support parents who have made these decisions themselves for
:07:26. > :07:29.their child. I would argue that the problem is what they are faced with
:07:29. > :07:34.here is that fact that so many families are in that position in
:07:34. > :07:41.the first place. Don't you have a responsibility to
:07:41. > :07:43.advise parents not to go to the Hope4Cancer Clinic in Mexico?
:07:43. > :07:53.Actually, no, we don't have a responsibility to advise that
:07:53. > :07:57.people go anywhere. I don't think any families will want to go there.
:07:57. > :08:03.They are in a position where there are no guidelines issued. There is
:08:03. > :08:05.nowhere they can turn for good clear advice.
:08:05. > :08:08.As very few children survive Neuroblastoma it is unsurprising
:08:08. > :08:14.that when parents are told their children will die they will look
:08:14. > :08:18.abroad for any kind of hope. Unproven treatments in Mexico are
:08:18. > :08:22.not the only choice however. Jamie from Yorkshire is six years
:08:22. > :08:27.old and for the last three and a half years he has been fighting
:08:27. > :08:31.Neuroblastoma. He felt quite ill, was very tired,
:08:31. > :08:34.and he started to lose mobility in his legs. In the afternoon he was
:08:34. > :08:41.essentially paralysed from the waist down so we knew something
:08:41. > :08:44.sinister was up. From the local hospital in York they rushed him by
:08:44. > :08:51.ambulance through to the oncology unit in Leeds and the following day
:08:51. > :08:54.they carried out the MRI scan. It confirmed our worst fears.
:08:55. > :09:02.Unfortunately he had relapsed and it was a tumour on his spinal
:09:02. > :09:11.column. He had surgery to remove the tumour.
:09:11. > :09:14.His best hope of survival now lies in Germany. That's because a
:09:14. > :09:19.hospital there is running a trial that has promising results with a
:09:19. > :09:29.form of stem cell transplant. It is costing �250,000 for Jamie to
:09:29. > :09:34.
:09:34. > :09:39.have treatment here. Those patients who come to us who are three of
:09:39. > :09:45.neuroblastoma cells or only have a few neuroblastoma cells, we see up
:09:45. > :09:55.promising results although it is not long enough - hour follow up
:09:55. > :09:55.
:09:55. > :10:03.period, half of the patients see complete remissions. Now we have to
:10:03. > :10:05.wait long enough to see if these patients stay in remission.
:10:05. > :10:13.Jamie's parents would not consider any treatment not backed by
:10:13. > :10:23.established data. We have to make a decision. We
:10:23. > :10:26.
:10:26. > :10:36.would not do that in isolation of clinical evidence and support.
:10:36. > :10:39.
:10:39. > :10:45.Jamie is making good progress. hope for the best. It will be at
:10:45. > :10:48.have journey. We have to balance the risk with the benefits. Some
:10:48. > :10:54.children have come into the street and and after completing the
:10:54. > :10:59.treatment they have been put into remission. We have to hoped that
:10:59. > :11:02.our child will be one of those children.
:11:02. > :11:05.Families Against Neuroblastoma is now helping the parents of a little
:11:05. > :11:08.boy from Norfolk go to Germany to have the same treatment as Jamie.
:11:08. > :11:11.Ryan Wright from North Washam has had the disease since he was seven
:11:11. > :11:21.months old. There's no more treatment for him here in the UK.
:11:21. > :11:28.
:11:28. > :11:37.Germany is his last hope. They instituted in Mexico did not
:11:37. > :11:47.respond to as. Lauren has given birth to a baby
:11:47. > :11:48.
:11:48. > :11:54.You if there is an inky think we should look into, send me an e-mail.
:11:54. > :12:00.-- if there is something you think. Were later, I asked why patients
:12:00. > :12:08.still wait too long in ambulances before getting into hospital --
:12:08. > :12:14.later, I will ask. 100 years ago, a new fighting corps
:12:14. > :12:24.was introduced, the RFC stomach some crews are now been uncovered
:12:24. > :12:34.
:12:35. > :12:37.in the Essex countryside. This is one of the busiest roads in
:12:37. > :12:42.Essex. It's the A130, linking Chelmsford to Southend and Canvey
:12:42. > :12:47.Island. I'm in search of a largely forgotten First World War Memorial.
:12:47. > :12:50.And here it is. Not the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a
:12:50. > :12:54.farmer's field, next to a busy road. The inscription reads, "this spot
:12:54. > :13:01.is sacred to the memory of Captain Henry Clifford Stroud RFC, killed
:13:01. > :13:05.in action at midnight, 7th March 1918. Faithful until death."
:13:05. > :13:08.But this isn't the only memorial here. Just a few hundred yards away
:13:08. > :13:15.is another, this one to Captain Alexander Bruce Kynoch, aged just
:13:16. > :13:20.Both men died on the same night, 7th March 1918, in the skies above
:13:20. > :13:23.me. It was around midnight and, in the cold and the dark, they
:13:23. > :13:27.searched for an enemy who was faster and often better equipped
:13:27. > :13:31.than they were. Both men lost their lives serving their country in the
:13:31. > :13:34.First World War, but they were a long, long way from the Western
:13:34. > :13:39.Front. This year marks 100 years since the formation of the Royal
:13:39. > :13:43.Flying Corp, the forerunner to the Royal Air Force.
:13:43. > :13:48.Most people think of the trenches when they think of the First World
:13:48. > :13:55.War, but there was a new kind of war that came up much closer to
:13:55. > :13:58.home. For the very first time, Britain, and in particular, London,
:13:58. > :14:00.faced bombing, from the air. The Kaiser gave permission in
:14:00. > :14:03.January of 1915 for bombing areas which had some military
:14:03. > :14:06.significance, but in July, the High Command persuaded him they could
:14:06. > :14:09.bomb civilian areas just like that, and that's what happened. People
:14:09. > :14:16.were appalled, astounded that these great airships could, with impunity,
:14:16. > :14:20.simply come and bomb them. It was terrifying.
:14:20. > :14:23.And quite often, it was our region that bore the brunt of the attacks,
:14:23. > :14:27.as the airships and aircraft headed through the East, en route for the
:14:27. > :14:30.capital. The first attacks came from
:14:30. > :14:36.Zepellins, huge airships that would fly at high altitude and then bomb
:14:36. > :14:41.at will. And in the early days of the war, it seemed we could do very
:14:41. > :14:44.little to stop them. They did a lot of damage to
:14:44. > :14:46.buildings and, of course, to people. There were no shelters available
:14:47. > :14:50.immediately and this would happen suddenly. They caused a lot of
:14:50. > :14:54.damage and a great deal of panic. That was the intention, to affect
:14:54. > :14:57.morale. The situation was so bad, there
:14:57. > :15:04.were even riots in some parts of the country, including Maldon and
:15:04. > :15:06.Southend. Something had to be done, and fast. The answer - a ring of
:15:06. > :15:16.home defence aerodromes circling London, with pilots and aircraft
:15:16. > :15:19.
:15:19. > :15:22.ready to fly up at a moment's notice and intercept the raiders.
:15:22. > :15:25.Today, the role those early flyers played is virtually forgotten, but
:15:25. > :15:28.with this year marking the centenary of the formation of The
:15:28. > :15:31.Royal Flying Corp in 1912, their story is finally beginning to
:15:31. > :15:34.emerge. When I first came here, I was
:15:34. > :15:37.absolutely gobsmacked, looking in the windows and seeing the original
:15:37. > :15:40.desks, the original paintwork, that sort of thing. And every building
:15:40. > :15:44.you go into is just more and more and more, so absolutely overwhelmed
:15:44. > :15:47.with it and fell in love with it within five minutes flat and just
:15:47. > :15:50.had to buy it. Four years ago, while looking for
:15:50. > :15:53.new business premises near Maldon in Essex, Russell Savory stumbled
:15:53. > :15:59.upon what is now known to be the most complete Royal Flying Corp
:15:59. > :16:05.aerodrome anywhere in the world - Stow Maries. Like the memorials by
:16:05. > :16:08.the A130, it had been hidden from view for decades.
:16:08. > :16:11.During the Great War, who was based here?
:16:11. > :16:17.It was B flight 37 squadron and that was then split up into three
:16:17. > :16:21.flights. A flight at Rochford and C flight at Goldhanger. Its busiest
:16:21. > :16:26.time in the complete build-up of it, we have some just short of 400
:16:26. > :16:32.personnel here. They were made up of three services, that was the RFC,
:16:32. > :16:35.RMC and the Royal Engineers. It is quiet here today, but almost
:16:35. > :16:38.100 years ago, it must have been very different.
:16:38. > :16:41.This place would have been absolutely buzzing. You've got the
:16:41. > :16:43.officers in the officers' mess, you've got the officers' barracks
:16:43. > :16:46.there, and between the officers' mess and the other rank, which
:16:46. > :16:56.would have been very busy indeed, you'd have had all the billet
:16:56. > :16:59.
:16:59. > :17:02.buildings here, 11 wooden huts for the other ranks to billet in.
:17:02. > :17:04.The pilots who served here came from all backgrounds - bank clerks,
:17:04. > :17:13.drapery assistants, engineering apprentices - and most were very
:17:13. > :17:17.young. Stow Maries' first commanding officer, Claude Ridley,
:17:17. > :17:19.took charge when he was barely 20, by which time, he had already been
:17:20. > :17:23.honoured for actions over the Western Front, including making it
:17:23. > :17:25.back to Britain across enemy lines. This place really does have a very
:17:26. > :17:29.special atmosphere, perhaps because there is just so much still here,
:17:29. > :17:32.much of it hardly touched for nearly a century. It is hard to
:17:32. > :17:36.find the words, but I guess it is somewhere where the present feels
:17:36. > :17:38.very close to the past. During The First World War, pilots
:17:38. > :17:41.from Home Defence Aerodromes like Stow Maries took part in hundreds
:17:41. > :17:44.of sorties against enemy raiders, but with most of the best aircraft
:17:44. > :17:53.being used over the trenches in France and Belgium, the ones they
:17:53. > :17:55.received were often hopelessly inadequate.
:17:56. > :17:58.Imagine the Second World War, imagine sending Fighter Command to
:17:58. > :18:07.intercept German raiders without the Spitfire and without the
:18:07. > :18:10.Hurricane, that was what was down to these men. They cannot reach the
:18:10. > :18:20.height, they haven't got the speed, and this is the complaint that one
:18:20. > :18:21.
:18:21. > :18:27.of their officers made, that they Have you an example of a typical
:18:27. > :18:30.day, if there was such a thing? Yes, for example, on 25th May,
:18:30. > :18:38.there was a daylight raid, but the night before, there had been a
:18:38. > :18:41.night raid, when six Zeps attacked London. But the adverse winds put
:18:41. > :18:49.them off course and they went wandering about over East Anglia
:18:49. > :18:52.for hours. Now, our pilots were called up from the three aerodromes
:18:52. > :18:55.to go and find them, they are labouring up through thick cloud,
:18:55. > :19:00.heavy rain, trying to find them, and even those who were driven back
:19:00. > :19:10.by weather themselves came back down and then went up again. They
:19:10. > :19:11.
:19:11. > :19:14.did not give up. But Zepellins were not the only danger. In 1917 came a
:19:14. > :19:16.new terror, the arrival of huge German bombers in the skies above
:19:16. > :19:19.Britain. Twelve hours later, at five o'clock
:19:19. > :19:25.in the evening, there was another call, and this time, there were 23
:19:25. > :19:27.Gotha bombers. The night before, it was Zeps, now it was bombers. They
:19:27. > :19:31.crossed the East Coast, between the Blackwater and the Crouch, which
:19:31. > :19:35.was just here. The squadron was in readiness five minutes later.
:19:35. > :19:38.Among those men that went up was a Captain Cyril Cook. He laboured up
:19:38. > :19:41.through cloud, and when he reached 13,000ft, his engine burst into
:19:41. > :19:51.flames, and the record says he successfully extinguished it by
:19:51. > :19:51.
:19:51. > :19:57.executing a sudden tail slide. With badly performing aircraft and
:19:57. > :20:00.a better equipped enemy, many men paid the ultimate price. Roy
:20:00. > :20:05.Mourtizen, 20 years old and from Western Australia, died in a flying
:20:05. > :20:10.accident. Edward Gerald Mucklow died in an accident on the edge of
:20:10. > :20:13.the airfield at Stow Maries. He burned to death in the wreckage.
:20:13. > :20:20.Captain Alexander Kynoch and Captain Henry Stroud, both 24, were
:20:20. > :20:24.killed in the skies above what is now the A130. They had been sent up
:20:24. > :20:29.to intercept an enemy headed for the capital. In the cold and dark,
:20:29. > :20:32.they collided and plummeted to their deaths. And it is stories
:20:32. > :20:36.like these Russell Savory is hoping to tell by restoring Stow Maries as
:20:36. > :20:39.a living memorial to those who served here.
:20:39. > :20:42.So this was the officers' mess, this is where Claude Ridley would
:20:42. > :20:45.have been in charge? It is, indeed.
:20:45. > :20:50.And many of the original features still intact, despite the fact it's
:20:50. > :21:00.been farm storage for many years? I think it's because it was used
:21:00. > :21:06.
:21:06. > :21:16.for farm storage that it has survived, because it was of use to
:21:16. > :21:22.
:21:22. > :21:24.the farmer, and this is really the hub of the officers' mess. This is
:21:24. > :21:27.where the mess orderly would have been based, that's the reason for
:21:27. > :21:30.the sash window. It's got the original desk in the original paint
:21:30. > :21:33.on it, RFC green. So this is where you would have
:21:33. > :21:36.paid your mess bill. So you couldn't get into the dining room,
:21:36. > :21:38.or the bar, or the little quiet room, without going past this
:21:38. > :21:41.office. And what is your grand plan?
:21:41. > :21:45.To restore it back to its original 51 buildings, because I think we've
:21:45. > :21:48.got 22 of the originals here, and most of the ones that have
:21:48. > :21:52.disappeared are the wooden ones. So it is restoring the hangars and
:21:52. > :21:55.some of the wooden hutting, but to put it all back to how it was. This
:21:55. > :21:59.year is the 100th anniversary of the RFC, so quite an important date
:21:59. > :22:02.for us. Indeed, some three months ago, I managed to get grade-11 star
:22:02. > :22:05.listing on it, so effectively, we've got it saved for the nation.
:22:05. > :22:09.And do you hope that maybe one day, Stow Maries might be as famous as
:22:09. > :22:11.somewhere like the IMW at Duxford? Well, maybe we could be a little
:22:11. > :22:14.bit more famous, hopefully! Formed just two years before the First
:22:14. > :22:17.World War, its pilots soon found themselves engaged in dogfights
:22:17. > :22:20.over the trenches of the Western Front. And planes are flying into
:22:20. > :22:22.Stow Maries again for the first time in decades, including one very
:22:22. > :22:25.special visitor. And as the airfield comes back to
:22:25. > :22:28.life, aircraft are once more flying back into Stow Maries for the first
:22:28. > :22:31.time in decades. There are now regular flying days held at Stow
:22:31. > :22:34.Maries, with the long-term plan that this will continue to grow as
:22:34. > :22:36.a living museum, including re- building the hangers and filling
:22:36. > :22:40.them with WW1-era aircraft. And it's remembering those who
:22:40. > :22:43.served here that is so important. In fact, one of the first things
:22:43. > :22:46.that they did before work began to even restore some of the buildings
:22:46. > :22:49.was to built this memorial to all those in 37 Squadron during the
:22:49. > :22:51.Great War. German airships and aircraft killed more than 1,400
:22:51. > :22:55.people during WW1, and injured nearly 3,500, but the raids also
:22:55. > :22:58.took a terrible toll on those young men fighting against all the odds
:22:58. > :23:01.to stop them. The planes were BEFE. The E stands
:23:01. > :23:04.for Experimental. We must honour these men, they are the beginnings
:23:04. > :23:07.of the Royal Air Force, they fought the first battles of Britain here.
:23:07. > :23:10.I think it is so important that we recognise that tremendous
:23:10. > :23:13.achievement. So if you spot an unusual memorial,
:23:13. > :23:23.or headstone, take a closer look, and remember those young men who
:23:23. > :23:32.
:23:32. > :23:36.paid the ultimate price in the Earlier this year, we reported on
:23:36. > :23:39.delays with ambulances getting to people and we discovered part of
:23:39. > :23:46.the problem was that they were being kept waiting at hospitals and
:23:46. > :23:49.they were sometimes unable to admit patients for over an hour. The N&N
:23:49. > :23:56.had the worst record in the east and we went back to find out if
:23:56. > :23:58.things had improved stomach --. Earlier this year, the Care Quality
:23:58. > :24:01.Commission - which monitors health service performance - found that
:24:01. > :24:04.the East of England Ambulance Service had one of the most hours
:24:04. > :24:07.lost due to delays at hospital in England. One of the biggest
:24:07. > :24:09.problems was ambulances being kept waiting at A&E departments. This is
:24:09. > :24:12.what we found at Broomfield Hospital, in Essex, last February.
:24:12. > :24:16.At the moment, we're just waiting for hospital cubicles to come free.
:24:16. > :24:19.They only have a certain amount of cubicles and a certain amount of
:24:19. > :24:24.staff that can manage those cubicles. So until they're free, we
:24:24. > :24:27.need to stay with the patient to make sure they're OK.
:24:27. > :24:31.Unfortunately, that is delays building at Broomfield due to the
:24:31. > :24:34.influx of patients coming in. So everything that goes in will just
:24:34. > :24:38.be delayed until they've got room for them. It depends what the
:24:38. > :24:43.delays are. At the moment, it says currently delayed handing over,
:24:43. > :24:46.which means they're just really busy in the department.
:24:46. > :24:49.Last week, we had one hospital in the region where 26% of patients
:24:49. > :24:53.waiting over an hour to be off loaded from the ambulance and be
:24:53. > :24:56.admitted into A&E. That's really really disappointing and, as you
:24:56. > :25:00.can imagine, they're waiting in the back of the ambulance much longer
:25:00. > :25:09.than they should do. And, of course, it means the ambulance isn't free
:25:09. > :25:13.to get out on the road and see to the next patient. The Care Quality
:25:13. > :25:20.Commission investigated and reported that the East of England
:25:20. > :25:22.ambulance service must continue to reduce waiting times at hospitals.
:25:22. > :25:31.The ambulance service said they are working with hospitals to address
:25:31. > :25:35.this. But what are the hospitals doing about it?
:25:35. > :25:38.Back in February, we found of all of them in the East, the Norfolk
:25:38. > :25:41.and Norwich University Hospital had the worst delays in handovers from
:25:41. > :25:44.ambulances to A&E. And in September, the Primary Care Trust found the
:25:44. > :25:47.N&N still had the worst record for delays of over an hour. So what is
:25:47. > :25:50.being done about it? Anna Dugdale is the Chief Executive.
:25:50. > :25:53.This absolutely isn't a blame game. It's about all of the health system
:25:53. > :25:57.working together. It starts when patients visit their GP practice,
:25:57. > :26:02.or when patients dial 999, and it finishes when patients are back at
:26:02. > :26:05.home, having recovered from their acute episode. So it's not a
:26:05. > :26:09.question of just what happens at the front door, it's a question of
:26:09. > :26:12.the whole health and social care system working together on this one.
:26:12. > :26:22.The Ambulance Service says handover delays in Norfolk and Suffolk have
:26:22. > :26:24.
:26:24. > :26:28.cost it more than �400,000 in lost resources. Now the Primary Care
:26:28. > :26:31.Trust has set the Norfolk & Norwich a target for 85% of patients to be
:26:31. > :26:33."handed over" from an ambulance within 15 minutes. The target was
:26:33. > :26:36.due to be met in October, so have they done it?
:26:36. > :26:40.Are you actually hitting this target of 85%?
:26:40. > :26:42.We are not hitting it at the moment, but we are doing a great deal of
:26:42. > :26:52.work with the local clinical commissioning groups across Norfolk
:26:52. > :26:54.
:26:54. > :26:59.and also with Social Services to improve the handover performance.
:26:59. > :27:03.So and 85% may not be achievable, are other parts of the country are
:27:03. > :27:06.getting a higher rate. Are these targets realistic, if
:27:06. > :27:08.other hospitals in other parts of the country are getting a higher
:27:08. > :27:11.rate, are they not realistic for this hospital?
:27:11. > :27:14.I think it's not just this hospital, it's the whole health and social
:27:14. > :27:18.care system. So this target is a manifestation of what's going on in
:27:18. > :27:21.the system as a whole. If we can flow patients out of the hospital,
:27:21. > :27:24.then it's much easier to admit patients into the hospital, which
:27:24. > :27:27.is why we're working with the CCG to improve the whole system's
:27:27. > :27:28.performance. $$NEWLINELet's face it, you can't be happy, as the Chief
:27:28. > :27:31.Executive of this hospital, with that figure.
:27:31. > :27:34.I'd like very much for the turnaround target to be better,
:27:34. > :27:37.wouldn't we all? And that's what we're working on at the moment with
:27:37. > :27:39.all of our partners. So what is the problem, is it that
:27:39. > :27:42.A&E isn't big enough, not fit for purpose?
:27:42. > :27:45.No, the size of the A&E department isn't the rate-limiting factor.
:27:45. > :27:48.issue is when we can't move patients through the department
:27:48. > :27:50.quickly because we can't get patients out of the back door of
:27:50. > :27:53.the hospital. The block at the so-called back
:27:53. > :27:56.door is partly due to patients who are medically fit to leave general
:27:56. > :28:02.wards, but can't until their care packages are sorted out, often by
:28:02. > :28:06.Social Services. Last week, 46 beds were blocked this way. And hospital
:28:06. > :28:12.will be fined �70 for handover is that take longer than 15 minutes,
:28:12. > :28:15.no penalty payments have yet been issued. Preparations are now being
:28:15. > :28:21.made for the reorganisation of local health care and we will look
:28:21. > :28:25.at what that would mean for all of us, in the new year.
:28:25. > :28:34.That is it for this week, if there is anything to think we should look
:28:34. > :28:39.into, send an e-mail to me. I will see you next week and I will be
:28:39. > :28:44.back with these stories. Getting out of debt, with 300 of us
:28:44. > :28:48.going bankrupt every day, we show you won solution.
:28:48. > :28:51.Meet the Essex homeowners faced with demands for thousands of
:28:51. > :28:55.pounds for the right to make improvements on their own homes.