20/03/2017 Inside Out North East and Cumbria

In the next half an hour:

The medical drama that's stranger than fiction.

We go ringside to reveal the behind-the-scenes fights that have

had the NHS boss who led Newcastle hospitals for decades on the ropes.

I would like an inquiry to find out why things went so drastically wrong

because they're brought one of the finest trusts if not the best

trust in the UK into disrepute.

The lifeblood of the NHS - we're with the North's

transfusion service trying to find a perfect match.

We get a lot of care through the NHS, it's my way

of giving something back.

And going out on a limb - the Tyneside doctors

using drainpipes and recycled tyres to transform lives in one

of the poorest countries on earth.

The idea was about making them for less than the cost

of a mobile phone.

We're talking about ?30.

That can change somone's life.

I'm Chris Jackson and this is Inside Out.

When the man who led Newcastle's prestigious NHS hospitals

was suddenly removed from his ?300,000-a-year job

and sent on extended leave, no-one was saying why.

But tonight I can reveal the inside story which has been

surrounded by rancour, rumour and lurid speculation

and where those in the know have proved very reluctant

to speak on the record.

A wanted man.

Sir Len Fenwick.

70 this year, he's Britain's longest serving hospital chief executive.

He controls an annual budget of close to ?1 billion.

But for the last three months Sir Len has not been at his desk.

Why?

Officially he's on extended leave but we understand

that on 10th January, Sir Len was escorted

from his headquarters at the Freeman hospital -

and since then he's been barred from the premises.

Why?

For months, no-one would say.

Sir Len rose to the top after joining the NHS as a teenage

hospital clerk 53 years ago.

During his time, the Trust has won international recognition

for its pioneering work and it was rated as

outstanding last year.

Sir Len has championed hospital services in Newcastle Upon Tyne

for all of his working life.

He's been knighted on the recommendation

of the Prime Minster to the Queen for his services to the NHS.

I'm told there are investigations under way but I'm not told

what is being investigated.

I mean, the brutal truth is I've tried very hard to find out

and I'm still none the wiser.

So why the change in fortunes?

We want to give you a straight answer but few people

will talk openly.

In private, talk is rife of a bruising fight with the powers

that be at the highest level.

Round one.

In the red corner, Sir Len.

In the blue corner, Jim Mackey.

It's an open secret that Sir Len isn't Jim Mackey's biggest fan.

Mr Mackey is currently in charge of the organisation reshaping

hospital services across England, but the pair are old sparring

partners from their time running neighbouring health trusts.

What we do know is they both run very big organisations that

are outstanding and both foundation trusts so there is a level

of competition between them.

We saw a number of years ago both trusts, Northumbria Heathcare

and Newcastle Hospitals, bid to acquire neighbouring

Cumbria University hospitals trust.

Northumbria was successful in that though Sir Leonard wanted it

for his trust so he has spoken out against that decision.

We also know that when Northumbria was setting up its specialist

emergency care hospital in Cramlington, Sir Leonard spoke

out against that as well.

We've obtained a document which suggests that some of the most

senior medics were so worried about the breakdown in relations

and the possuble damage to their Trust it became the main

topic of debate at a private meeting lasting an hour and a half.

At the meeting the doctors demanded Sir Len should engage fully

with new developments in the NHS and said they had no concerns

relating to Mr Mackey.

We don't know whether all the trust doctors agree with this

and Sir Len hasn't commented, but at his last interview

with the BBC, he whispered his view that he was being pushed out

to make changes.

A spokesman for Jim Mackey told us that his working relationship

with Sir Len does not form the subject of any investigation.

He'd recused himself from any involvement in the matter

and his return to Northumbria has been planned since 2015.

And the Newcastle Hospital Trusts told us that it was simply untrue

to suggest that any named individual is being lined up

as a replacement for Sir Len.

Round two.

In the red corner, Sir Len.

This time in the blue corner, staff relations.

There's no doubt Sir Len is a heavyweight who has

punched through changes.

That hasn't always won him friends.

In the minutes of the doctors' meeting, senior staff said

they feared a backlash if they raise concerns about the

future of the Trust.

They say they want to express their opinions "without fear

of retribution and intimidation".

We contacted many of the consultants at the meeting.

None would speak.

But a senior manager and senior clinician,

who were not at the meeting but worked closely with Sir Len,

did agree to talk providing we did not reveal their identities.

Ultimately it's a vote of no confidence.

Given its content it is very damning.

I've never known anything like it before.

The fact that this senior group of doctors are saying anything

critical of Len is unheard of.

Previously everyone was reluctant to say anything in such

an open forum whatever their opinions might be.

He would put everyone on edge at the start of the meetings.

It was full on.

There was an element of, who will get it today?

It was public knowledge that so and so was in trouble.

He would pick on people in an aggressive style,

using aggressive language, pointing fingers,

using his whole stature.

And Sir Len was well known for taking a very focused

and unusual approach to checking out what was happening in his hospitals.

He would go around and take pictures as evidence, usually at night.

He was discovered one night in a dinner jacket in the RVI.

He used to come into the hospital at all hours.

We've seen other documents that show how things

came to a head late last

year after a trust director made serious serious allegations

of bullying and abusive behavior by Sir Len.

An HR consultant has now been brought in by the Trust

to investigate the allegations and she's expected to report back

in the next few days.

The Trust told us it would not comment on individuals but

it does not condone any instance of aggressive management style.

It said staff could raise concerns without fear of reprisals.

We wanted to talk to Sir Len but he's barred from

speaking to the press.

Sources close to him told us that he believes there's nothing

in the allegations and he's paying the price for standing up

to doctors in the past.

Sir Len's his own man and he does have a strong independent style.

If he thinks what he's being asked to do by whichever

government is wrong, he'll say so.

Well, he was autocratic, I can't say anything

other than that, really.

He would call a spade a spade.

With hindsight as we get older we create sort of waves

what we've created in the past.

Sometimes they come back to bite our bum.

Round three.

In the red corner, Sir Len.

In the blue corner, Kingsley Smith.

Last year Sir Len threw his hat into the ring in a bid to succeed

Mr Smith as trust chairman.

That worried some senior doctors.

In their meeting they said that Sir Len's application could not be

supported and that the level of gossip within the organization

was undermining the Trust's reputation.

But now Mr Smith is also under fire, with claims he is hiding the facts

from the Governors who oversee the running of the Trust,

and it's led to this letter of complaint.

Silence is not golden in this case and the lack of transparency

is unacceptable given the Trust is a publicly funded institution.

It's not the way you do business.

There are many ways of sorting out differences

without going into humiliation.

It obviously put a very unfortunate question mark right at the end

of an illustrious career.

The Trust said it was untrue that governors had been barred

from speaking about Sir Len's absence and they do not have line

management responsibility for the chief executive.

So do all of these unseemly bust-ups really matter?

Well, Sir Len earns a third of a million pounds a year.

At this vital time for NHS so far he has been paid around ?80,000

while not going to work.

It should have been resolved before now and it certainly should be

brought to a resolution and a negotiated conclusion

as quickly as can be as long as that is compatible with fairness

and natural justice.

Recent newspaper reports that Sir Len was suspended

because he forced the resignation of two doctors, who were caught

having sex on hospital premises, has been categorically denied

by the Trust.

It described the decision to place Sir Len on extended leave

as a "neutral act" and does not imply any wrongdoing on his part

and is in no way impacting on the quality of services

that the Trust provides.

I would like an inquiry to find out why things went so drastically wrong

because they're brought one of the finest trusts,

if not the best trust in the UK, into disrepute.

We've been told Sir Len's future could be decided

by the end of the week.

What we don't know is whether it'll be total knock-out

or a remarkable comeback.

It's public money that's in play here, so even though those

at the centre of the storm are remaining tight-lipped

you don't have to.

Let me know your thoughts by tweet or email.

Details are on the screen now.

If you end up in a hospital operating theatre you probably

assume there'll be blood available should you need it.

But the transfusion service is crying out for young blood -

quite literally - because donors are getting older.

We've been following the work of the transfusion service

here in the North to see how they ensure those

blood supplies keep flowing.

Peterlee Methodist Church in County Durham.

One of the North East's most popular blood donor sessions gets under way.

They're hoping for at least 100 donors to turn up today.

I was just passing in the town centre and I called in

on the off chance.

The guys are good but they never have chocolate Club biscuit anymore,

not the fruit ones.

It's the only reason I come, really.

The donor carers do the screening and take the blood.

Stephen has been doing the job for five years.

This is the reason we come to do our work day in and day out.

On certain bags we can take platelets from the blood

and in others just red cells.

Platelets are important to help people clot if there was ever

an injury or accident.

Men can give blood every 12 weeks, women every 16 weeks.

Sharon is here for her 40th donation.

My husband and daughter both have multiple sclerosis.

My husband used to give blood, and then

after the diagnosis he had to stop.

We get a lot of care through the NHS over the years.

It's my way of giving something back.

At present supply is adequate.

Enough people are coming forward to maintain a stock

of 1.7 million units of blood.

But there are areas of shortage and a longer term concern.

The donors are getting older.

In the year to March almost 51,000 people in the North East gave blood

but more than half were aged 45 and over.

Over the past decade we've seen a 40% fall in the number

of new young donors coming forward to donate for the first time.

We need those new donors to replace donors that maybe for medical

reasons can't donate any more or have come

to the end of their donation

career, so in total we need about 200,000 new donors

coming forward every year to replace those lost donors.

Donated blood saved three-year-old Farah's life.

At 21 months she had surgery to remove a brain tumour,

followed by a year of chemotherapy.

She had 40 blood and platelet transfusions.

Without them and her operation she wouldn't be here today.

We knew when her blood counts had dropped.

She'd go pale, she'd be anaemic, tired and under the weather.

Then she'd have a blood transfusion and be jumping around.

It never entered my head to give blood, which is absolutely terrible,

because it's so easy to do.

It's certainly made us as a family try and

encourage people to give blood.

Relax this hand.

Ten seconds, darling.

Sorted, lovely.

It's coming out red.

That's a bonus.

The blood is rocked to mix it with a chemical

and stop it clotting.

Donors do exercises to aid the flow.

Keep our bum and thigh squeezes going for me.

Keep doing the action with the hand there.

Still as comfortable as comfortable can be?

There's a PG Tips and a custard cream with your name on it.

That's what you've come for.

You're living the life.

You're living the dream.

You'll just feel a slight prick on the end of your thumb.

Donors usually give a unit of blood.

Well, I'll bid you good day, thank you very much.

If you want any more, do get in touch.

Where are you going?

To have my tea and biscuits.

A unit is just less than a pint.

I don't mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint?

That's very nearly an armful.

Collection, treatment and distribution mean

each unit of blood costs, on average, ?120.

It's still warm.

They're like little hot water bottles.

This needs to be tested within ten hours of coming out

of the vein of the donor.

It does a lot of miles, the blood does go

here, there and everywhere.

It'll do more miles than the donor's done today, put it that way.

More than 6000 blood donations are needed across England every day.

Donors must be screened before they give blood.

Any chance you could be pregnant at the moment?

No.

Any pregnancies in the last six months?

No.

Laura is 22.

A rare young donor.

In the last 28 days have you had sex with anyone who had

a diagnosis of the Zika virus?

No.

We just need to do the finger test now.

This is the worst part.

I do try to encourage my friends to give blood.

Some of them come but a lot of them are scared of needles.

Some of them come but a lot of them are scared of needles.

Laura's blood, O negative, is particularly valuable.

Only 7% of the population have O negative.

That can be given to all blood groups, but I can only

receive O negative.

So it's used in emergencies and things like that

if they don't have time to find out people's blood.

It's estimated one in four of us will need a blood transfusion

at some point in our lives.

Getting minority groups to donate is a major issue.

A very small minority of donors are black or Asian,

well below the 14% of the population they represent.

Nam is the only member of an ethnic minority to donate today.

This is her third time, but there's a problem.

They can't get nothing out of my arm yet on this one,

so they're going to try this one.

I'm just happy to help people if they need my blood,

you know and to sign up for the bone marrow today because not many Asian

background people will have this.

Not everyone who volunteers can donate.

I'm a type one diabetic, so I've been declined.

I'm not allowed to donate, with me injecting insulin.

I'm sad.

I'm sad because I want to.

I vowed that once I was able to i'd give blood.

I vowed that once I was able to, I'd give blood.

My wife had a postnatal haemorrhage.

I feared the worst.

Thankfully, the specialist was able to get her stabilised.

And it was a lot of units.

I'm a little early.

I didn't think it would look like this.

Donors must be at least 17 to give blood.

They test your blood to make sure I'm fit and well.

Because if you have bad blood the other person

will have bad blood.

They've got to make sure you've got good blood.

Healthy blood.

Is mammy brave?

Yes.

I think she's brave as well.

Are you going to look after her tonight?

Yeah.

Good lass.

More than a hundred units were collected today but mostly

from people older than 45.

The challenge is to get those vital young donors to attend.

All our blood bags have to catch a shuttle to Leeds this evening,

which will move everything on to Manchester in ten hours

to be tested and processed.

The bag this evening can be potentially used within a fortnight,

but it has a shelf life of 30 days.

I'm happy.

Our boss is happy.

Everyone's winning.

Happy days.

You can also save lives in the most unexpected way.

Amputees in one of the poorest parts of Asia who would otherwise struggle

to fend for themselves have had their lives transformed by two

trainee medics from Newcastle who are using drain pipes

to create artificial limbs.

Far from home, on some of the world's most treacherous roads.

I think me and Zaamin thought we were going to die.

Into the heart of one of the poorest parts of Bangladesh.

Life is really tough for these people.

Across a land they'll never forget.

We were blown away by the beauty of the area.

It was full of rivers, deltas, greenery.

They battled baking heat...

As soon as we arrived the power went off and it's 35 degrees now.

When it rained, it really did rain.

The streets were flooded.

The two have been good mates since their school days in Newcastle.

And now both study medicine.

Last summer they set out on a mission to use

their growing skills in one of Asia's poorest countries.

In Bangladesh, medical treatment is beyond the reach

of tens of millions.

Matt and Zaamin travelled to an isolated clinic in the north,

run by a British charity, where a coconut can double

as an effective intravenous drip.

They're here to set up a clinic for amputees - the first

of its type in the country.

Their first patient - carried in by his father.

Shiblu is a 16-year-old boy who was born without a leg.

He has never been able to walk.

He hasn't been able to go to school.

He was a very small boy because he hasn't had

the stimulation of being able to walk around, which was

very upsetting for us to see.

Does anyone laugh at you?

HE TRANSLATES.

Yes.

If you are happy we can take some measurements of your leg.

He really does have a difficult life and he told us how he was bullied

by his school friends for being different to them.

The next day, Matt and Zaamin set off to meet Shiblu in his village.

It was brilliant to meet his mum and dad who look after him so well.

Just playing football with him we could see he was a very bright

boy who wanted to do well, who was talented.

But this isn't just a social call.

This is a vital part of the process of getting Shiblu on two feet.

Once again, though, they're short of resources.

Because we didn't have the equipment that we have in the UK,

we had to improvise using plastic bags and gaffer tape to form

a protection for his stump.

We have taken a cast of his stump here which we can use

to create a prosthesis.

It'll be many months before Shiblu will receive his new leg

and there are plenty more patients for Matt and Zaamin to see.

Being an amputee in that kind of environment

is extremely difficult.

People have very hard lives.

We're just scraping the surface.

In the entire country there are thousands

and thousands of people in need of a service like this.

That service was set up by a British charity called the Naya Qadam Trust.

Artificial limbs are made with melted drain pipes

and recycled rubber tyres - all for a fraction of the cost

of those in the UK.

The beauty of this project is the limbs are so cheap.

When they were originally made, the idea was to make them cheaper

than the cost of a mobile phone.

We're talking ?30 here - that can change someone's life.

Mohammed Surouzzaman is hoping that's true.

He lost a leg in a farm accident.

It was tragic to hear how his whole livelihood

had disappeared in that one moment.

After that, he was unable to provide for his family.

He went onto begging which he is still doing now.

Sometimes he said his family wasn't able to eat.

Matt and Zaamin travel to see another patient.

Bangladesh has many waterways.

Travel by boat is common.

Nazeem, who's 18, lost his leg three years ago.

Again, a farming accident.

He now works in a shop.

He has been confined to sewing every day to support his family.

He has had to put his studies on hold, so having a prosthetic limb

would make a massive difference to his life.

It was an amazing three weeks.

But the pair needed to leave their patients to return to the UK,

where there is much to be done in support of the project.

Thanks very much, everyone.

It's an absolute pleasure to be back.

Today they're visiting the place they became friends,

the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle.

We're here to talk to you today about a project we started

in the summer in Bangladesh.

Without money to pay for the prosthetic limbs that Shiblu

and the others so badly need, their mission to Bangladesh

will have been in vain.

The visit prompts donations of almost ?1000 from the students.

That's added to more than ?7000 raised by the young doctors.

But that's not all.

They want to spread the word about their work

with a visit to the Bangladeshi community in Gateshead.

So I have a video on my laptop I'd love you to see.

Our clinic had turned into a river.

If you need any help from us, you can contact us,

we will try to support you as much as we can.

That was absolutely amazing, everyone was so welcoming to us,

it was brilliant to see the reactions to the video

and things we'd been doing and I can't wait to go back now.

Sadly for Matt and Zaamin, the next visit is without them

but the project's founder is there to finish

the job they started.

Up first - the tailor, Nazeem.

For the first time in three years, Nazeem can walk tall.

And the farm worker Mohammed Surouzzaman also has no

need of his crutches - even if these are faltering first steps.

Their life

Their life is

Their life is transformed.

They will go about their day to day activities and

earn their own living.

Finally it's back to Shiblu's village.

This is a huge day in his young life.

It doesn't take long before Shiblu's putting his new leg to the test -

and doing what most boys would do.

Having a prosthetic limb will make a massive difference to his life.

He'll be able to get a good education.

He'll be able to socialise and play sports with his friends.

He won't be stigmatised because he doesn't have a leg,

because he looks different.

More than 70 people have been fitted with new limbs thanks to the money

raised back on Tyneside.

Now we're manufacturing these limbs, it brings a huge

amount of hope to people.

It is a massive thing for us to be able to deliver to people

and will make an enormous difference to their lives.

We'll definitely go back and make sure this project is something

we can continue into the future, we can keep this legacy going.

What a great pair of lads those two are, and what a lovely way

to end tonight's show.

Next week, the fraudster who got his hands on a County Durham

mansion has been locked up - but what's happened

to the historic hall?

See you next week.

Until then, from Stockton, Goodnight.

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