:00:07. > :00:17.This week, how to get out of debt. With 300 of us becoming insolvent
:00:17. > :00:17.
:00:17. > :00:20.every day, we show you one solution. Your are also liable to get paid.
:00:20. > :00:25.Suddenly, all these things I couldn't do, I have suddenly been
:00:25. > :00:31.able to do. What links door-to-door make-up sales and Hinchingbrooke
:00:31. > :00:35.Hospital? We will be revealing the answer. We have exclusive access to
:00:35. > :00:40.the country's first privately run NHS hospital and we will be asking
:00:40. > :00:45.the company that has run it if �40 million of debt can really be
:00:45. > :00:49.turned into a profit. I do not know healthcare but I do know how the
:00:49. > :00:54.complex operations work, so we are taking long-term view that says, if
:00:54. > :00:56.something can be achieved in a short space of time, great, but
:00:56. > :01:01.some of the things we are trying to tackle our long-standing issues
:01:01. > :01:07.that will take months and sometimes a lot longer to resolve. Had I am
:01:07. > :01:12.in Luton to find out how much money are town trees are saving us.
:01:12. > :01:17.do such a good job for us in terms of the benefits, shading, filtering
:01:17. > :01:21.out pollutants, the beauty of them. And the fact that they stand there
:01:21. > :01:25.and we walk past them all the time and do not necessarily truly
:01:25. > :01:35.appreciate them. They are the stories that matter where we left,
:01:35. > :01:46.
:01:47. > :01:50.Tonight, we are at Wardown Park in Luton. Credit cards, bank
:01:50. > :01:54.overdrafts, payday loans, they are ways to tide you over when you are
:01:54. > :01:57.short of money, but it is easy to borrow money we cannot pay back.
:01:57. > :02:01.Debt is a serious issue. One solution has told thousands of
:02:01. > :02:05.people get out of debt and start afresh. Now it will receive much-
:02:05. > :02:10.needed funding. Getting into debt can happen to any
:02:10. > :02:13.of us, and can be the result of circumstances beyond our control.
:02:13. > :02:17.That is what happened to John Belm, who lives in south Norfolk. An
:02:17. > :02:21.accident eight years ago caused his life to spiral out of control. As
:02:21. > :02:25.well as being badly injured, he got thousands of Pounds into debt. The
:02:25. > :02:30.effects dramatically changed his life. It was two-and-a-half years
:02:30. > :02:38.after the accident, before I was diagnosed with a traumatic brain
:02:38. > :02:42.injury, by which time, my marriage had ended. I was sleeping on
:02:42. > :02:48.friends'' sofas and sleeping on my own mattress on the floor of an
:02:48. > :02:52.empty house, just getting a bed wherever record. Norfolk council
:02:52. > :02:59.social work department had class me as a vulnerable adults. I had an
:02:59. > :03:04.actual fear that I would wind up living rough on the streets. John's
:03:04. > :03:08.brain injury means he struggled to organise it life and matches live.
:03:08. > :03:15.One of the beauties of his brain injury is I do not suffer anxiety,
:03:15. > :03:20.so I was not worried about my debt, which is out of control. I kept
:03:20. > :03:23.going on beyond overdraft limits, and racking up charges, charges
:03:23. > :03:29.upon charges and penalties on charges. It got to the point where
:03:29. > :03:34.I could not keep up with keeping myself solvent. His story is not
:03:34. > :03:39.unique. According to Credit Action, every five minutes, one of us will
:03:39. > :03:43.be declared insolvent. Personal debt in the UK stood at nearly 1.5
:03:43. > :03:47.trillion pounds at the end of September. People with poor credit
:03:47. > :03:51.ratings and those who cannot get a bank account are sometimes turned
:03:51. > :03:56.to credit unions. The first one opened in 1964 and there are now
:03:56. > :04:01.400 in the UK with 33 in our region. The number of people using them has
:04:01. > :04:05.increased by over 200% in the past decade. Unlike high-street banks,
:04:05. > :04:10.they do not like customers take on loans they cannot afford. Can you
:04:10. > :04:14.explain, what exactly is a credit union? It is a community bank. We
:04:14. > :04:19.do all the same services as a back, but we are different in the fact
:04:19. > :04:24.that we are run by our members. We are co-operative. So our main
:04:24. > :04:27.concern is what is good for our members? The key thing is, we make
:04:27. > :04:32.sure the loan is affordable. The last and we want to do is get
:04:32. > :04:36.people into debt and in trouble. We look at the individual
:04:36. > :04:40.circumstances and every person is treated as an individual. We look
:04:40. > :04:43.at them as that person, not a computerised evaluation. The real
:04:43. > :04:49.evaluation of a person, what is coming in and going out, what they
:04:49. > :04:55.can afford. Regulated by the FSA, the Norfolk Credit Union has 20
:04:55. > :04:57.branches across the county and around 3,500 customers. We help all
:04:57. > :05:01.members of the community, particularly those who have had a
:05:01. > :05:07.poor credit rating and problems getting loans for other banks. If
:05:07. > :05:13.they want a smaller loan, they can go to us. We are very good at loans
:05:13. > :05:19.of �500, which backs on off. If you go to loan shark, who are illegal,
:05:19. > :05:22.or high-cost lenders to pay -- who charge a lot of interest. Credit
:05:22. > :05:27.unions have been pushing the Government for help for years. It
:05:27. > :05:29.now seems a breakthrough is on the cards. The Government will invest
:05:29. > :05:32.nearly �40 million in credit unions over the next three years of study
:05:32. > :05:39.should mean they will be able to help more people who cannot get
:05:39. > :05:43.normal credit. The South Norfolk village of Chedgrave is home to
:05:43. > :05:49.gardener Sam Marsh. Before joining the credit union, Sam used to
:05:49. > :05:55.struggle with money. How difficult has life been? Pretty hard. I have
:05:55. > :06:02.moved from place to place, not been able to settle down, this has made
:06:02. > :06:06.it hard to get work. I have ended up having to go to or hostel, which
:06:06. > :06:11.got me this place. Before that, I was just sleeping on people's sofas
:06:11. > :06:15.and moving from place to place. Sam's dream was to run a garden in
:06:15. > :06:20.business, but funds were needed and because of his past problems, none
:06:20. > :06:26.of the high street banks would touch him. I went to lots of banks.
:06:26. > :06:29.I did not have a permanent address. After I got this flat, and was on
:06:29. > :06:33.the electoral register, I had household bills, but I did not have
:06:33. > :06:38.photographic ID. They were still refusing the on the point that they
:06:38. > :06:41.did not have photographic ID. eventually found out about the
:06:41. > :06:45.Norfolk Credit Union. Thanks to them, he was able to open a current
:06:45. > :06:49.account, which held it his business up and running. What difference has
:06:50. > :06:53.it made to you being a member of the credit union? They gave me a
:06:53. > :06:57.current account, which allowed me to do direct debits and allowed me
:06:57. > :07:01.to get paid, I could have the internet, the phone, I have been
:07:01. > :07:05.able to buy business cards online, all these things I could not do, I
:07:05. > :07:10.had suddenly been able to do, which has got me back out into the
:07:10. > :07:17.working world. And actually it has allowed me to earn a living and pay
:07:17. > :07:21.my own way. Fantastic. So it has given you a sense of pride. A sense
:07:21. > :07:25.of pride and just a big foot in the door. A big step that I was
:07:25. > :07:29.struggling to make and it meant that I can now make it. This is the
:07:30. > :07:33.latest branch of the Norfolk Credit Union. It -- it has just opened for
:07:33. > :07:37.business. Although it could be seen as a rival to the traditional high-
:07:37. > :07:41.street banks, it is surprising that the funds to open it came from
:07:41. > :07:47.Barclays Bank. Barclays gave the credit union �50,000. I wanted to
:07:47. > :07:52.find out why. The Barclays Community Development Fund is
:07:52. > :07:55.provided by Barclays, where by credit unions can apply for grants,
:07:55. > :08:03.to make affordable credit more accessible to the group -- to the
:08:03. > :08:07.community. You are giving money to credit unions to help people with
:08:07. > :08:11.poor credit ratings, why not just help the people directly? Barclays
:08:11. > :08:16.has a whole range of products to help customers but there are some
:08:16. > :08:19.customers which we cannot help but this point in time. We rely on the
:08:19. > :08:23.expertise of local providers like the credit union to help those
:08:23. > :08:27.customers. This is about working in partnerships with these external
:08:27. > :08:31.bodies so that customers can get the services they need. So, why do
:08:31. > :08:35.you not have the expertise to help the people directly? The credit
:08:35. > :08:38.unions deal with people in these situations day in, day out. They
:08:38. > :08:42.have a direct relationship with other bodies like housing
:08:42. > :08:46.associations, local of authorities. And because they deal with this all
:08:46. > :08:53.the time, it is what they do best. Us working in partnership with them
:08:53. > :08:57.and helping to fund them through grants is our way of making sure
:08:57. > :09:01.that customers get the best services. Credit services say they
:09:01. > :09:04.-- credit unions are becoming trees and the popular with people who in
:09:04. > :09:09.the past would have gone straight to a high-street bank. A originally,
:09:09. > :09:13.most of our people came from what he might cool -- called the poor
:09:13. > :09:18.end of the committee. But now it is what is called the squeeze medal.
:09:18. > :09:23.People on low income, on middle income, on benefits, we are seeing
:09:23. > :09:28.a wider range. After his problems with a high-street bank, John Belm
:09:28. > :09:37.was put in touch with the Norfolk Credit Union. You cannot go
:09:37. > :09:42.overdrawn. A that is totally what I need. I am unsafe, putting free
:09:42. > :09:46.money in my hands! Once a month, John sees a personal adviser, who
:09:46. > :09:52.helps to manage his accounts. that a direct debit or standing
:09:52. > :09:57.order? With his financial life more organised, drug is able to
:09:57. > :10:01.concentrate on his work as an artist and sculptor. -- John is
:10:01. > :10:07.able. What difference has it made you life being a member of the
:10:07. > :10:16.credit union? It keeps me out of trouble, financially. I can only
:10:16. > :10:21.spend the money that I have. I cannot run up debt. It is a very
:10:21. > :10:31.friendly and constructive and supportive environment, in which to
:10:31. > :10:32.
:10:32. > :10:41.keep my money, manage my money and keep my otherwise quite tricky life
:10:41. > :10:46.Rails. If there is something you think we
:10:46. > :10:51.should be looking into, send me an e-mail. This is Inside Out east,
:10:51. > :10:57.still to come. With our ashtrays and a threat, we find out just how
:10:57. > :11:04.valuable are trees are. Trees provide absolutely essential
:11:04. > :11:13.environmental services. They act as a carbon store. That increases
:11:13. > :11:16.annually as they metabolise and grow, the store up more carbon.
:11:17. > :11:20.Almost a year ago, Hinchingbrooke Hospital became the first NHS
:11:21. > :11:24.hospital to be run by a private company. It was and remains a
:11:24. > :11:29.controversial decision. The hospital had debts of nearly �40
:11:29. > :11:32.million. The company called Circle said it could turn the hospital
:11:32. > :11:36.around and make a profit, but last week, the man who founded the
:11:36. > :11:39.company stood down and today, the company has been called to appear
:11:40. > :11:42.in front of the Government's Accounts Committee. Stuart
:11:42. > :11:52.Radcliffe was given exclusive access to the hospital at this
:11:52. > :11:53.
:11:53. > :11:59.really crucial time. Avon calling, everywhere. To fill you with its
:11:59. > :12:04.gorgeous range of Christmas gifts. You might wonder what the
:12:04. > :12:08.connection is between door-to-door make-up sales and healthcare. Well,
:12:08. > :12:13.meet Michael Watson, who has travelled the world as one of
:12:13. > :12:17.Avon's global vice-president. But then Circle came Knockin at his
:12:17. > :12:23.door and now his business brain is being put to use managing hospital.
:12:23. > :12:27.My expertise is clearly not in healthcare. I worked in manufacture,
:12:27. > :12:32.distribution and other operations in other places round the world. I
:12:32. > :12:37.am bringing a process mine said and also, just connecting and managing
:12:37. > :12:47.different groups of people. So I do not know healthcare, but I do know
:12:47. > :12:49.
:12:49. > :12:53.It does not get more complex than a busy A&E department. This was one
:12:53. > :12:59.of the departments that some feared sh -- could close as part of
:12:59. > :13:03.Circle's plans to cut costs. A lot of the work we have done in the
:13:03. > :13:06.early days is in A&E and how it works with the rest of the hospital
:13:06. > :13:10.in terms of people coming in through A&E and going on to the
:13:11. > :13:17.right place, getting the right diagnosis to people as quickly as
:13:17. > :13:22.possible. I think that you have seen that our performance in A&E
:13:22. > :13:31.has gone from one of the worst in terms of getting through people --
:13:31. > :13:36.people through quickly to now being number one in the region. I have
:13:36. > :13:45.just one bed available now. So so how did staff here feel about a
:13:45. > :13:51.private company running an NHS A&E department? There were some
:13:51. > :13:59.anxieties but once people had some certainty about who was run in the
:13:59. > :14:03.wards I think people felt more comfortable. But in order to secure
:14:04. > :14:10.a successful future Circle promised to pay other horse -- pay off the
:14:10. > :14:14.hospital's �40 million debt and maintain vital services, but how?
:14:14. > :14:24.According to Circle, through efficiency savings and putting
:14:24. > :14:26.
:14:26. > :14:30.doctors and nurses in charge of their own departments. This doctor
:14:30. > :14:35.has worked at Hinchingbrooke for 12 years so knows exactly how things
:14:35. > :14:39.have changed and he thinks they have changed for the better.
:14:39. > :14:44.Instead of your traditional hierarchy, about four or five
:14:44. > :14:49.layers between frontline staff and a hospital ward, we now have a
:14:49. > :14:54.different structure. 80 % of the hospital board are doctors and
:14:54. > :14:57.nurses. If I am leading in my speciality and a would like to make
:14:57. > :15:02.a change, I don't need to go through the many layers of
:15:02. > :15:06.management to get my message across. But not everybody is happy with the
:15:06. > :15:16.changes. After just six months and you rota was introduced meaning 42
:15:16. > :15:18.
:15:18. > :15:23.nursing posts have been scrapped. - - a new road to. -- rota. There is
:15:23. > :15:26.a lot of disillusionment now. Circle came in with big promises,
:15:26. > :15:32.they said they would be including the staff, but the staff see that
:15:32. > :15:39.that is not happening but instead jobs are being reduced. I think
:15:39. > :15:43.members are rightly concerned and so are patients, who are conducting
:15:43. > :15:50.us on a daily base, asking why nursing posts have been highlighted
:15:50. > :15:56.for cuts instead of other job roles. Really I think the balance for
:15:56. > :15:59.patients must be around getting the best quality care. I don't see in -
:15:59. > :16:05.- how that can be achieved by removing nursing posts from the
:16:05. > :16:09.system. But the latest Care Quality Commission report says the
:16:09. > :16:14.standards of care have improved but it raises doubts about finances,
:16:14. > :16:24.despite the efficiency drive. A hospital's deficit was twice as
:16:24. > :16:25.
:16:25. > :16:30.much as Circle promised. -- the hospital's. Meet Ali pastor, who,
:16:30. > :16:40.until last week, was the driving force between circle's
:16:40. > :16:43.
:16:43. > :16:48.Hinchingbrooke plan. -- Ali Parsa. It always is in our plan to bridge
:16:48. > :16:55.some of the finances of the trust. Is that throwing good money after
:16:55. > :17:00.bad? Not at all. It is investing in transformation. Are we going to see
:17:00. > :17:06.continued losses? Yes, because this hospital was always projected to
:17:06. > :17:11.lose almost �1 million a month. We could have done slash-and-burn and
:17:12. > :17:17.tried to fix the finances of a hospital but our focus will be to
:17:17. > :17:24.fix the finances while maintaining the service, and that is a long-
:17:24. > :17:29.term plan. Getting an entire transformation of quality and
:17:29. > :17:35.finances in any institution in one year is on realistic. With Ali
:17:35. > :17:41.Parsa or's colours nailed to Hinchingbrooke's master, his sudden
:17:41. > :17:46.departure last Tuesday with something nobody saw coming.
:17:46. > :17:54.Welcome to Look East. The old -- the region's most controversial
:17:54. > :18:00.hospital boss steps down. Why has he gone?
:18:00. > :18:05.It has taken us by surprise. It has come out of the blue but there are
:18:05. > :18:10.problems with Circle's plans for Hinchingbrooke and he had a have --
:18:10. > :18:14.a definite plan to turn the finances around. It did not work as
:18:14. > :18:18.quickly as he anticipated and they have had various bail-outs so I
:18:18. > :18:24.wonder if he has gone up his own volition before he was pushed out
:18:24. > :18:31.by the shareholders. -- of his own volition. What now for
:18:31. > :18:38.Hinchingbrooke? Into her former Argos director Steve Milton. --
:18:38. > :18:42.enter. He is committed to Hinchingbrooke so nothing will
:18:42. > :18:46.change. Our passion for Hinchingbrooke is unchanged. The
:18:46. > :18:49.thing about Hinchingbrooke, for viewers in that area, is that the
:18:49. > :18:56.improvements we have been making have been delivered by the doctors,
:18:56. > :19:01.nurses, health care professionals, because our model gives power to
:19:01. > :19:06.them to run services the way they think fit. That will not change at
:19:06. > :19:11.all. Ali Parsa will be the first to say that it is not him or myself
:19:11. > :19:14.who are creating the care, we are just creating the right environment.
:19:14. > :19:20.Whoever is in charge, Circle still faces an enormous financial
:19:20. > :19:26.challenge. It is a ten-year deal, a �40
:19:26. > :19:29.million historic debt. In order to clear that they will have to have
:19:29. > :19:33.surpluses of �70 million over the next decade. That is a lot of money
:19:33. > :19:37.and when you consider that they are currently running at a deficit that
:19:37. > :19:43.underlines the challenge ahead. If they achieved everything they set
:19:43. > :19:49.out to, it will be quite an achievement. But there is a long
:19:49. > :19:52.way to go and a lot could happen between now and then.
:19:52. > :19:57.Seemingly all financial options are on the table, including selling off
:19:57. > :20:02.this car-park to build houses on. Because Circle are treating
:20:02. > :20:07.Hinchingbrooke as a business it has to make a profit and the message on
:20:07. > :20:11.the calling card from Avon is that you can't judge it on its first
:20:12. > :20:15.year in charge. We have the contract for 10 years so we are
:20:15. > :20:20.taking a long-term view. It something can be achieved in a
:20:20. > :20:23.short space of time, great, but some of the things we are tackling
:20:23. > :20:31.our long-standing issues double- take months and sometimes a lot
:20:31. > :20:36.longer than that to resolve. -- that will take months. And hospital
:20:36. > :20:41.trusts across the country will be watching to see if Circle can
:20:41. > :20:47.resolve Hinchingbrooke's problems because, if it can, and there are
:20:47. > :20:51.plenty of hospitals needing similar financial surgery.
:20:51. > :20:55.Some of the trees here are magnificent and most of us love
:20:55. > :21:01.having trees in our towns and cities but is it possible to put a
:21:01. > :21:07.price on the benefit they give us. Yes, thanks to a computer program
:21:08. > :21:12.being used right here in Luton. Trees. They might not look as if
:21:12. > :21:16.they are doing much but every single one is busy making our towns
:21:16. > :21:21.healthier places to be, undoing some of the damage we caused. In
:21:21. > :21:30.Luton they have worked out the value of the job they do in hard
:21:30. > :21:39.cash. Wardown Park as the principal parks seem to like the place to
:21:39. > :21:46.start. It has a green flag, it is on the register of historic parks
:21:46. > :21:50.and we needed to find out some kind of financial valuation on the
:21:50. > :21:55.services that our trees provide to the community and the townscape
:21:55. > :22:03.itself. The council has just completed something called an i-
:22:03. > :22:07.Tree Eco survey, the first of its kind in the country. OK, so that is
:22:07. > :22:14.11 metres. It has calculated that the value of the trees to the
:22:14. > :22:20.environment is around �70,000 a year. Trees provide absolutely
:22:20. > :22:27.essential environmental services. They act as a carbon store which
:22:27. > :22:37.increases annually as they grow, storing up more carbon, so we are
:22:37. > :22:47.taking some of the carbon that we use, living, driving cars, running
:22:47. > :22:47.
:22:47. > :22:53.heating. Running a long Bedford Road, -- -- they are sending out
:22:53. > :22:57.dust particles in their exhaust fumes and trees to a remarkable job
:22:57. > :23:05.of capped -- capturing that, locking them in the leaves and
:23:05. > :23:13.chopping them down, where they are dispersed safely in the ground. --
:23:13. > :23:17.dropping them down. �70,000 is the value of the carbon, which can be
:23:17. > :23:23.traded, along with what it would cost to use a machine to do the
:23:23. > :23:29.same job. There are 1221 of them in the park and local volunteers help
:23:29. > :23:33.to measure and record every detail of every one. We are measuring the
:23:33. > :23:43.heart -- the height of the trees, this a conference, the crown
:23:43. > :23:46.density, any missing parts of the Crown and the spread. The more
:23:46. > :23:55.leaves a tree house, the more it does in terms of pollution removal
:23:55. > :23:59.for us. -- a tree has. I am a tree huggers. I think they do such a
:23:59. > :24:05.good job for us in terms of the benefits, shading, filtering out
:24:05. > :24:08.pollutants, the beauty of them and the fact that they stand there and
:24:08. > :24:14.we walk past them and don't genuinely appreciate them as we
:24:15. > :24:20.walk past. Town trees also help cut energy bills by providing
:24:20. > :24:28.insulation, giving them a financial part -- value may help give future
:24:28. > :24:35.town planners their importance. was overwhelmed by the valuation of
:24:35. > :24:42.pollutant removal. I think it would be impossible to ignore such
:24:42. > :24:50.findings and not develop policies that may well improve this in the
:24:50. > :24:54.future by creating development, new roads with adequate landscaping.
:24:54. > :25:01.should not create our trees for granted but sadly not everybody
:25:01. > :25:08.appreciates them. This is St Georges, -- St George's Square, the
:25:08. > :25:14.central square in Luton's town centre, and we have a municipal
:25:14. > :25:22.soft landscape planting around it and one problem we have his
:25:22. > :25:28.occasional vandalism. As a result, this treaty is dead. Six trees were
:25:28. > :25:34.killed. Replacing them cost �25,000. Robbie is not a man to be defeated.
:25:34. > :25:39.He has come up with a creative solution to protect the replacement
:25:39. > :25:44.trees. We explored a number of solutions, the problem of bark
:25:44. > :25:51.stripping, and one of them we came up to was this idea of yarn bombing,
:25:51. > :25:56.a form of street art. To do this, we used woolly jumpers and old
:25:56. > :26:00.socks and pieces of material taken from various charity organisations
:26:00. > :26:05.and shops and the town. We stitched them together and made socks for
:26:05. > :26:10.the trees! And it seems to be working. This has been here for two
:26:10. > :26:14.months. Brobbey hopes that one day the tree project will be extended
:26:14. > :26:20.to the whole of Luton's urban forest. -- and Robbie. Meanwhile,
:26:20. > :26:25.with people like him around, the town's trees are in good hands.
:26:25. > :26:30.We filmed that before asked dieback disease hit the country. Has that
:26:31. > :26:39.affected you here? There are actually no ashtrays in Wardown
:26:39. > :26:49.Park. It is not up a dominant species in Luton. -- no ash trees
:26:49. > :26:54.
:26:54. > :27:04.in Luton what problems do you face here? Because 11 % of our trees in
:27:04. > :27:09.this park are horse chestnut, horse chestnut canker is a problem. But
:27:09. > :27:16.we are finding that the older stock are showing some resistance and
:27:16. > :27:21.taking longer to die. The problem is younger tree stock that is more
:27:21. > :27:27.susceptible because it doesn't have the energy levels to fight the
:27:27. > :27:32.disease is, really. What do you reckon the solutions are? Certainly
:27:32. > :27:40.strategies need to be developed, policies of movement of material
:27:40. > :27:48.need to be strengthened across the board, and good practice in our by
:27:48. > :27:54.Okocha, Inc -- including in forestry, where prevention of
:27:54. > :28:04.disease is observed by it all people. That would include
:28:04. > :28:08.sterilisation of tools, and care and proper disposal of material
:28:08. > :28:13.arising from suspected disease materials. It is great to catch up
:28:13. > :28:19.with you. That is all we have time for this week. If you have
:28:19. > :28:23.something you think we should be covering, send an e-mail. I will
:28:23. > :28:29.see you next week when I will be back with these stories.
:28:29. > :28:32.Traffic jams in Essex. We find out why we are still being charged to
:28:32. > :28:39.drive on the Dartford Crossing, even though the tunnel and bridge
:28:39. > :28:47.were paid for long ago. Good morning. We are at least more
:28:47. > :28:52.-- moving. We investigate claims that mistakes in hospital have left