17/12/2012 Inside Out East

A third to unexplained death at one of our newest hospitals. We

investigate what has gone wrong at this private be run Hospital in

Stevenage. There are so many things better and explained, I am still

very suspicious. If he they had put her on a trip with an antibiotic we

would not be here today talking about her death. Snarl-ups on the

Dartford Crossing, Tony Blackburn finds out why we are still paying

to cross from Essex into Kent. was paid for a long ago and it was

going to be free, so why isn't it? Determined not to lose out, how and

Norfolk coastal town has used a wind farm to benefit the whole

community. It will change the coastline, see what benefits you

can get. They are the stories that matter here in the east. Tonight,

Inside Out is in Stevenage. Hello. Just over a year ago a new hospital

was opened here, the centre is run for the NHS, but after a few months

it was failing, there were serious complaints and two unexplained

deaths were patients died after a routine operations. Now, we can

reveal that a third unexplained death is being investigated. The

modern face of the National Health Service, this is the Surgicentre,

delivering free treatment by NHS surgeons specialising in eyes, hips

and knees and it is run in Stevenage by a private company. It

is supposed to cut waiting lists and improve non-emergency care but

after a catalogue of errors, it has been banned from treating you I am

joined cases. Two unexpected deaths after routine surgery. 21 of

recorded serious incidents. 8,500 missing patient files. Six patients

lose their sight. And all of that within the first year. Tonight, we

are asking what went wrong and why it has taken so long to sort out.

will move that in front of you. Optometrist Andrew Merry was one of

those people. There was a loss of confidence in the system. That was

back in January. Them at the Local Optical Committee wrote a warning

letter to local health bosses. were concerned for our patience and

we made representations to the PCT. One case that comes to mind was of

a patient I have known for many years and I know that he has only

one functioning eye. He has been diagnosed with glaucoma. His

follow-up appointments had not been made. He was put off time and time

again. He even attempted to make an appointment in person at the centre

and was unable to do so. It is important for this man of more than

most because he only has one eye. The following month, in February,

the regulator intervened, the Care Quality Commission inspected and

found serious concerns over standards. It issued a warning

notice. Their first six different operating theatres here and today

they are all in use doing a variety of surgeries, there is one of that

is related to Gynecology, orthopaedic surgery and a cataract

operation. It is the treatment of patients with degenerative eye

conditions that has cost the most concern. The right eye in this

photograph is normal, the area here is undamaged. This is the left eye

of the same patient. That area is severely damaged by a large car

cost presumably by degeneration. If it looks like this, it is too late.

We would need to catch it before now. It was too late for at least

six people who it is the had suffered irreversible sight loss.

Thousands of patients did not get an appointment with their

consultant because the private company that runs the hospital had

mislaid the files. We spoke to other patients who fear of their

site has been affected after they were left waiting for months for

appointments. We are told several are pursuing legal action. As

complaints mounted, this summer GPs began referring I patients

elsewhere. It was swiftly followed by NHS heart richer banning new

referrals for eyes and later joined us. Worse was to come. Michael

Mansi has come to visit the grave of his sister Anita. She was 87 and

had gone to the centre in a eight for any replacement. The surgeon

did a first-class job, but she did not have a full anaesthetic, she

had an epidural. In the evening, she called me and she said I am

feeling fine and I am OK and I will have fish for my dinner. How was

she on Thursday? She seemed OK. Her speech was slurred. Just for a

second. Then she would ask what she was saying and carried on. I am not

a doctor, but I thought perhaps it could be the more Athena they were

giving her and I sought no jugs of water. When you saw her? She did

not have a drip? Not at all. At that point, after you notice to the

slurred speech, did you mention it to anyone? No. I did not. I did not

think I should be interfering, but in hindsight I wish I had. She went

from being quite well to passing away on Saturday. She went out like

a light! The first thing we were told is that she had had kidney

failure and then alarm bells started to ring and she had a heart

attack. The coroner decided it was natural causes and there was no

inquest that the hospital began its own investigation. Michael Mansi is

angry they did not tell him. There are so many things that or

unexplained and I am still very suspicious. I feel fairly certain

that she was not hydrated. If they had picked that up and put her on a

trip with an antibiotic, we would not be here today talking about her

death. Soon after her death, another patient died while

recovering from routine joint surgery. Then we heard there had

been a third unexpected death and we put it to the company, they

repeatedly denied it. We reveal it is true. There is an investigation

into a third death. The centre owned by Carillion, initially

agreed to let us a month in Surgicentre but did not want us to

talk to anyone. We had an interview set up with the director of

Surgicentre but yesterday he pulled out. I had a lot of questions

including why more than one year into a five-year contract, patient

care here is still not up to scratch. He said they would look at

the questions but we had to submit them in writing. We have heard back

from Carillion and they have sent the answers and the director of the

The Help, Mike Hobbs, said they are working harder to put the issues

behind them and that he wants to reassure patients that no concerns

have been raised over clinical competence. They say three-quarters

of patients now rate them as very good or excellent. In the case of

Anita Mansi and the other unexpected death, they say that is

still being investigated and the point out that all surgery carries

risks but they are served that one patient developed pneumonia and the

other died of natural causes. NHS Hertfordshire said it provided

intensive support so despite its best efforts was disappointed there

were still problems. It turned down an interview. One of the few people

who would stand up for the centre is this man, achieve Executive of

East Cumbria Family Support Association. He said he wants to

find a way forward. You have to look at the bigger picture. The

level of care under the current regime is excellent. What is the

problem has been when that they are actually seen and therefore at the

appointments system is quite poorer. This is not a service that is up to

scratch? It is not about money and it's not about the management. It

is about working together to progress the system forward. In the

last two and a half months I have made huge inroads, we have looked

at mystery shop environment, we have looked at the whole

appointments system and the touch points and that has been progress.

That would never happen in the NHS. In theory, the private company

should be running at this hospital for another four years, but tonight

there are more doubts about his contract. Local NHS bosses have

said they do not want to carry on overseeing the privatisation deal

after the spring. Now there's something you think we should

investigate, e-mail me. You watching Inside Out, still to come,

I will be meeting the people from Wells-next-the-sea who made sure

the whole town did well from the new wind farm. I did not think we

would have a look again. We went out of our way to see whether we

could supply them. My first order was about �46,000. Queues at the

Dartford Crossing are a major headache for the thousands of us

who have to use it to get between Essex and Kent and we have to pay

to use it even though the bridge and the tunnel were both paid for a

long time ago. Tony Blackburn has been behind the scenes to find out

why. This is the tunnel that I used at least twice a week coming from

Kent and normally it is really stalled up. Going south, everyone

is on the bridge, in nearly every day you will hear of jams tailing

back along the M25 into Essex. This is the Queen Elizabeth Bridge,

we're not even on the bridge yet and the traffic is crazy. This is

at 8:05am. This is not too bad. We are at least moving. This puts at

least another 15 minutes on what 160,000 vehicles pass through the

tolls here every day. Dartford is the busiest crossing in the South

East. With so much traffic, it just takes one incident for everything

to grind to a halt. Keeping the traffic moving falls to the

Highways Agency, who also deal with crises.

Our colleagues have gone to speak to him, he is having a panic attack

and cannot drive on. They will try come to a place of safety. Hold

traffic, hold traffic. Down below, a lorry has arrived that is too

high to get through the older left- hand tunnel. The Highways Agency

officers have to reverse the lorry back, which means closing the tolls.

Meanwhile, the traffic stacks up. The lorry is then escorted through

the larger right-hand tunnel. So you are driving in the centre lane

now, if I did that I would get the horn honked at me! Straddling the

middle lane, nothing can come passed us. This is the main route

from France to south-east England and for a long time they have been

trying to work out how to keep the traffic flowing over this part of

There has always been demand to get from one side of the Thames to the

other on this stretch of water. Back in the 11th Century, nuns from

Dartford ran a ferry which transported pilgrims heading down

to Canterbury. The first attempt at a tunnel here was back in 1797,

opposite Tilbury Fort. It was to be a way of getting the Kent Garrison

over quickly if Essex came under attack from the Dutch. They

abandoned that tunnel because the shaft filled with water. Legend has

it when the Kent Garrison came over to pay the toll bridge garrison at

cricket, they suddenly got their Bea neck out and somebody got

killed. The ferries continued carrying passengers, but in the

early 20th Century pressure again grew to build a tunnel at Dartford.

This is the local newspaper from 1938? It is recording on this

particular day the break through between the two tunnels, one from

Essex, one from Kent. The miners are inside, breaking through.

Working in compressed areas? -- compressed air? Sometimes they get

the bends, like divers. Horrendous conditions? Absolutely. Just

working in the mind, if you are claustrophobic it would not be nice,

and very hard work. And then the World War...? World War II broke

out as they finished the tunnel. There was no money from the

government to finish the work, so it was flooded and abandoned.

miles from London, they are digging the biggest road tunnel! After the

war, work continued in earnest with diggers break -- diggers working at

a rate of six feet per day. The crossing became the main route for

commuters and by the late 60s 12,000 cars were using it every day.

Demand also great, a second tunnel was commissioned. -- demand was so

great. Miners and engineers descended on Thurrock, many sending

their wages home to their families. Rory, who worked on the tunnel, is

now a musician whose lyrics reflect the problems faced by a migrating

workforce. Camaraderie was always something that plotted through 12,

14 hour shifts. But I found initially the biggest problem was,

are you Irish? Are you this, are you that? You were sort of

stigmatised, there was a lack of empathy and understanding with the

fact that you had to work away from home. I slept in the car a few

times, I have to because I could not get digs. The second Dartford

Tunnel was finished in 1980, and it had cost �50 million. Worthy of a

grand opening, and to perform the ceremony the Mayors of Essex and

Kent enlisted the help of a local lad. The start of the show was nine

year old then Martin. Did you expect it to be is busy when you

opened it? When I opened it, it was nice and peaceful. With all of this

going on, it is just as bad as when we first used to travel. Do you

come back to the tunnel to see it? I travelled this way quite often

for work and personal reasons. you see it as your tunnel? It is my

tunnel! Before long, a record number of cars were using the

tunnel. Liz King was an engineer here at the time. As somebody who

goes through the tunnel, I think, on top of this is a lot of water.

How do you keep it from coming through? Presumably they are

watertight? I can assure you they are! It is very, very sound.

hit 100,000 vehicles for the first time? And remember it vividly, the

general manager said it, it was in the early 90s. The bridge will

carry four lanes of traffic southbound, linking Essex and Kent

in one sweep of concrete and steel. Tolls will be paid on the south

side of the river for the next 20 years. When they had built the

second term will, they realised it was not enough so they built the

Queen Elizabeth II bridge, from Purfleet to Dartford. It cost �120

million, which we finished paying back in tolls in 2003. And now,

guess what? The tolls are still there. We are being asked to pay

more, and it is still chock-a- block! A lot of people say, the

fact this was paid for a long time ago, it was going to be free, why

isn't it? You are right, it was paid for in 2003 and I am sure a

lot of people want it free of charge. It is now more of a

congestion charge to manage demand at the crossing. So there is a

problem of congestion? You will get rid of the boots, it will be free-

flowing traffic? As best as we can make it, yes. There will still be a

charge for that, but it will be seen this, it there will be not

stopping at booths, like the London congestion charge. There is a

longer term plan for another crossing elsewhere around this area.

Will that be a tunnel or the bridge? I don't know, it is in the

early conceptual stage. We know we need another crossing, the current

crossing cannot cope. Automatic charging will start to pay for

another Dartford crossing. Let's hope it considerably reduces the

queues. Meanwhile, all we can do is grin and bear it. Look, it is

Not everyone is keen on offshore wind farms but there is a town on

our coast that decided they would make the best of it, and they

reckon that they could teach her the communities a thing or two. --

the h o the communities. Wells-next-the-Sea, a charming

seaside town. Nestling on the north Norfolk coast, there's been a port

here for more than 700 years. A small fishing fleet still works out

of the harbour. And, every summer, 10,000 people make Wells their

holiday destination. When work started on an offshore wind farm

out to sea, some people here thought it could damage the town.

But others saw it as a great business opportunity to make money

from big international companies. Cheryl Crawford runs a B&B in Wells.

Morning, Ole! And it is not just tourists who stay here now. Do you

have any toast? I will bring it for you. What difference has had in the

wind farm made to your business? has helped cash flow through winter,

it has meant that if I have rooms full for longer, really. It has

made an impact. It has enabled me to make improvements on the House

that I would not have been able to do. Most of them are coming from

Norway, some of them from Scotland, some from Denmark, but most of them

are coming from Norway. Were you always in favour of the wind farm,

or just now because you are making money out of it? At the end of the

day I know there are pros and cons about turbines, but unless you kind

of keep building them in practice we will never get it right. So, yes,

I am a supporter of it. Norwegian engineers working on the wind farm

often stay at B&Bs in Wells. I have been here for almost to year. Bob

and Cheryl made a special room for me, it was their office and I said,

why can't you change it to a room for me? They thought about it for a

while and after that they did that. Now I don't have to have so many

weeks in advance, because when you are on a project, that timescale,

schedule changes. During construction, 150 people have been

working on the wind farm. And, once operational, it will be run for at

least 50 years, employing engineers and technicians. The local butchers

has seen a massive rise in orders, thanks to demand from the wind farm.

We did not think that we would ever have a look-in as a local business.

We went out of our way to try to see whether we could supply them,

and try to provide them with all local produce. They actually liked

the idea and invited us to give a quote. And we now supply them,

which is really good to us, especially in the wintertime, which

is our no time. What kind of orders are you getting? My first was

�46,000. We normally get between 40 and 50,000 a month. They are really

good orders. All of our supplies go to a ship, a floating hotel off the

coast of Wells. On there, there are about 150 people and we supply that.

How many pork chops have you got? We will start packing if you now. -

- packing a few. One of Arthur's neighbours is doing all right, as

well. I thought they would get it on big suppliers, I did not think

they would come locally. There is a lot of stuff. We have a bad 180-200

kilos per box, and they have 12 per week. But it is not just the

greengrocer's. All along the High Street, others are getting extra

trade, including the opticians and the hairdressers. Wells-next-the-

Sea is really popular with tourists. At the peak of summer, the place is

packed with people spending money. But in the winter that money dries

up, so keeping businesses going in the lean months has always been a

challenge. As you can see, we cover a whole wide range of products.

Ludlam's chandlery business used to rely on mostly summer trade.

turnover has gone from approximately 20,000 a month to in

excess of �250,000 a month. Basically it is thanks to the wind

farms and the efforts they have put in to us as much of -- as much as

the effort we put into them. this all started from...? From a

phone call. Even though Wells is a seaside town, the quay is actually

a mile from the open sea. This outer harbour is like a taxi rank

for the wind farm. Engineers and technicians, heading out to sea,

come here and board their transfer vessels. It is also where supplies

from the town are loaded and taken to Sheringham Shoal. And the

harbour master, Robert Smith, oversees operations. Wells,

predominantly, is a tourist town. Most of the jobs are seasonal and,

dare I say, lowly paid. But this is a brilliant opportunity for people

to get really good Koreas, good salaries, and that lets them by a

house in the town and stay here, and that is a problem we have had

for years. Has there been much opposition to the wind farm?

course, it is change and people don't like change. Some people are

scared of change. We live in a special place, a beautiful area and

people were worried it would spoil it. We have changed things, but it

is not spoiled. They will build these wind farms of our post. The

seascape is going to change, let's see the benefits -- off our coast.

Now, to make sure there's not too much disruption through the town,

all the supplies are loaded here, then taken to the outer harbour,

This is just one small delivery to the wind farm. Since work started,

the town's economy has done very well. Millions of pounds has been

put into local businesses as a We will be here for quite a few

years. That is very important to the supply chain, the

infrastructure and the business partners. You have to start on day

one. It is positive for the local butcher, baker, but also it is good

for us to practise to develop this logistical change, because of

running an offshore wind farm needs logistics, spare parts, people.

you think there would be more opposition to what you wanted to do

if you had not used local businesses? May be, but we are

using the local community to recruit and train people to work

here. We are involving around 100 people, we will be here for almost

50 years, said this is part of the long-term strategy to make this an

interesting company to work for. This floating hotel or flotel can

be home to 150 people at any given time and is the final destination

for supplies from Wells. More wind farms are being planned all the

time. Two more have been approved of the Norfolk coast and all will

meat supplies. Other communities may be able to learn a thing or two

from Wells-next-the-Sea. If it is going to be off Yorkers, you must

have some of the benefits. I have spoken to other harbour masters who

had visited Wells to see how we have done it, from Cornwall, from

Scotland, using us as a model. It will change opposed and, see what

benefits you can get from it. -- it will change your coastline.

That is it, we have come to the end of the programme and the series. If

you think there is something we should look into, send me an e-

And I am at Twitter. Have a great Christmas, I will see you in

January when I am back with these stories from the East.

We will be star-gazing, finding out about the campaign to keep the

night sky is dark. Why care homes are going unchecked,

we reveal the scale of abuse in the east. My mother said something like,