21/10/2013 Inside Out West Midlands

Now, it might not look much, but this excavation on Cannock Chase

could unearth a 90`year`old secret that would change our whole

understanding of life in the World War I trenches.

There is a general perception that there was a lack of training and

bigger ship which resulted in massive casualties. The work we're

doing is trying to show a different side to that.

Also on the show: we follow one teenager's journey as surgeons

battle to give his mum her face back.

It's hard looking at my mum because she is not the same as used to be.

And she's not right looking. It is strange. But I've come to accept it.

That's all coming up on tonight's Inside Out with me, Mary Rhodes.

But first tonight: When Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire's Police and

Crime Commissioner, started in the job, he noticed that his officers

were spending a lot of time dealing with people who suffered from mental

health problems. In fact, he estimates that last year his force

spent almost ?1 million tending to people who didn't necessarily need

the police, but a more long`term solution. So we sent Sian Lloyd on

shift to find out more. It's the busiest night of the week

for Staffordshire police, but it is not crime that is top of the agenda.

Chief inspector Amanda Davies is the officer in charge. It's 6pm. She's

on her way to a major incident. He's on the roof. No, come away.

Please, get down, please. We're going to Newcastle, we've had

a call from a female who says her partner is walking in and out of

traffic trying to kill himself. He's now gone to the top of a multistorey

car park. The man is threatening to jump. PCs

Pugh and Cook are also heading to the car park to secure the area.

Upon approach, we need to make sure the area is clear of traffic ` he

poses a risk to himself and others. The area is flooded with police who

close surrounding roads while officers try and talk him down.

We've got a patrol with him, currently negotiating. At the moment

he is talking to the chap. He is not on the edge.

At the moment he's talking to the chap. He's not immediately on the

edge, but he's near enough. After almost an hour of

negotiations, officers persuade the man to come down.

Can you make sure that when they come down that they bring him here,

and we'll just get a sense of his state of mind and what the officers

are going to do with him, whether it's a 136 or whether it's? We've

got some care that we can put him in to.

The officers suspect he's got mental health problems ` section 136 of the

Mental Health Act will give police the power to detain him for

assessment. But the Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire

Police is worried. He says officers are spending too much time dealing

with the mentally ill. It's even worse when you get a

couple of officers taken off an entire shift simply to look after an

individual who hasn't committed an offence, is simply ill, but still

sees the inside of a police cell, with two officers watching them to

make sure they're ok, it's not the right use of resources and its

certainly not something police officers are qualified to do.

So far ten officers have been sent to the incident. It's taken a lot of

time and resources but it's a positive outcome.

You haven't had any drink or drugs? Have you had problems in the past

with mental health issues? He's been arrested under section 136

of the mental health act so officers now have to go with him to hospital.

My colleague is having to sit with him, keep him safe whilst we're

waiting for the staff to take over responsibility for him, as we're

speaking I can see my colleague coming back now but it could be five

minutes, sometimes it could be three, four hours.

Staffordshire's latest figures say that up to 25% of their officers

time is being spent dealing with incidents that could be avoided.

Thank you. It's coming from ambulance.

It will always be our responsibility. People in crisis

need somebody to talk to, be somebody to look We are here to

protect life and limb. Out for them. Mental health will always be a part

of our job. But we can't do it on our own.

After an hour at the hospital, PC Pugh and Cook have finished with the

car park jumper and are on their way to another call.

Emergency, can I help you? They're trying to drill through and

get into me. They're coming through the walls.

The caller believes there are people trying to get into his home to harm

him. We've been called to an address

which is a residential unit for recovering alcoholics. A male's rang

up who is just short of 25 years old, who's got clear issues and

vulnerabilities around alcoholism, self`harming and mental health

issues. The man called police four times

last night. He has a history of mental illness and drug use.

He called us repeatedly four or five times, saying that people were

coming at him with knives sticks, bricks you name it.

Officers check the premises and find nothing. The man is sent back to

bed, but they know it won't be the last they hear from him This is

where we need to be more joined up, we need to look at partnership

approach, joining the services more closely together so for that

individual we deal with him once, we deal with him properly and so not

only does he not ring us again, he doesn't ring other services either.

Hello, it's ambulance. The calls keep coming into the

command centre. Officers are being deployed all over the county to

unpredictable and desperate people. Had a job for men, a 48`year`old

schizophrenic attempting self harm. He is having hallucinations. From

previous cases and villains are saying he uses a knife.

Aare you prepared to authorise tazer?

If there is a risk involved are officers need to be protected.

It's not to say that we will use tazer, but it's there as a

contingency and will only be used as a last resort and only when they're

feeling threatened the officers will always use their communication

skills to engage with the person first, but no it isn't fair, that

individual is obviously ill, and to then have to use tazer at some point

is not really caring or meeting the needs of that individual at all.

Back on the streets, and PCs Cook and Pugh on their way to a complaint

about a drunken reveller. We've just got a call to a location

about half mile outside of the city centre, male walking around in the

road with his pants round his ankles. What's the problem?

The man tells officers he has a mental health illness and he's been

taking his medication with the alcohol.

We've spoken to the male, he's totally incoherent, and no other

address to go to, he's been arrested and handcuffed. He's made us aware

he has a mental health problem but he's so incoherent he's going to be

conveyed to custody by another patrol.

Have you got a care nurse or somebody you speak to? You're going

to have to look at my... It's all your records, is it?

The man was taken into custody and monitored overnight. But police

insist mental health is no excuse for criminal behaviour.

As part of dealing with that crime their mental health needs will be

met in custody, but if they're committing a crime, they're

committing a crime and we should always have that as our first

priority. It's the early hours of the morning,

and officers have been called back to the address they attended just a

few hours ago. Officers have searched the premises once tonight

already, but the man is still insisting that there are people

trying to get to him. I'm asking you the question, have

you seen anyone in here tonight? I've seen them in the garden, I'm

not lying. It's cracking me up this is. It's the monkey dust. I haven't

touched it, ask me Mrs. Come on people to think I'm off my head,

because we're not. The situation becomes volatile as

the other residents are now being disturbed.

You're saying it's going on here, when somebody says no, you say it is

going on around the back. You keep changing.

All caps indistinct Eventually officers are forced to arrest the

man for a public order offence. At the station, there is concern for

his mental health and state of mind. It's making me ill again. I've come

a long way. You know what I mean? The Custody Sergeant has arranged

for the man to see psychiatric nurse.

You want a blanket or anything? Nothing? Below, cup of tea?

The man doesn't need any further attention and is taken to his cell.

Arrested, assessed and released ` the cycle that Staffordshire Police

say too many people with mental health problems follow.

Is this a cycle? Are you going to see him again?

Probably, yes. I would hope that while he was in custody that he was

offered all the support he needed by the clinical, psychiatric nurse in

custody. Whether he takes up that referral or advice will be down to

him, but probably, at some point, yes.

The Home Office and the Department of Health said "barriers often lie

at the crossroads between Police and health services". They've launched a

pilot to put health care professionals alongside the police

"to give people with mental health problems the care they deserve."

It's early morning and our shift has come to an end.

The man arrested for drunk and disorderly was given a fixed penalty

notice. The man from the hostel was given a 12`month conditional

discharge and ordered to pay ?85 costs and the man who threatened to

jump was not arrested for any criminal offence. With so much time

and resources at stake, what's the solution?

It's a broken system, and it's a system that needs fixing, because

the police will not stop responding to this. But what also makes me

angry is just that slight hint that other services know the police are a

can`do service, and so they just let them get on with it, and that has to

stop, and that's what's going to stop in Staffordshire.

So what do you think the solution is? Or should the police just accept

this is part of their job and get with it? Let me know what you think

` e`mail me: [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you.

You're watching Inside Out for the Midlands, and next we've got Tom's

story ` his Mum Susan was diagnosed with mouth cancer two years ago. She

was lucky it was caught early and removed, but it's left her with a

hole in her face. 13`year`old Tom now tells us the story of how his

Mum got her face back. This is my Mum, Susan. People always

want to know why she's got that bandage across her face. Sometimes

we get a few funny looks when we're out, even the occasional comment. I

have to try hard not to say something back. It's been there for

two years, it all started when she found a lump in the top of her mouth

and showed it to her dentist. They took a biopsy and I was due to go

back in four weeks for the results, but they rang me within days and

asked me to come in the following day. So I knew that it was, I was on

is the pating it being cancer, because you don't get called in the

following day. I won't lie to you. That was a tough day. I can't

remember if I cried, but I was pretty crushed. Unfortunately,

getting rid of the cancer meant they had to take out the roof of Mum's

mouth and some of her face as well. I take this one off and then prepare

a new tape with two pieces of dressing. Fold it up and then they

just go over there. Like that. It's hard to look at her but I've stayed

strong for Mum. All that's about to change, though. I have Dom terms

with that and I have to stay strong my my mum. All that is about to

change. We're coming to meet the man who's going to give Mum her face

back. Susan Williams? This is Sat Palmer, a Maxillofacial Surgeon at

the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. We would like to put

some bone into your top jaw and we will take some bone from your leg.

This is your nose and what you have got missing is a bit of skin in that

area of your lip that you can't see on the model. We will be basically

putting the skin in to seal that gap off as well. That denture is the

single thing that is stopping every time she has anything to drink,

fluids and food coming up. It is not working that well. So they'll use

the leg bone to build a new roof for Mum's mouth and that will let them

put dental implants in. I can't help worrying about what could go wrong,

though. Is there a chance that she won't wake up? Basic... I don't

know, there is always a chance that something like that could go wrong.

However, this is something that we do routinely in Birmingham and your

mother's you know young and totally fit and healthy. So we don't

anticipate any problems at all. That looks pretty good. Sat sees a lot of

cases like Mum's, but a lot of the time people don't actually make it

this far. Having cancer is very heart`breaking, because if patients

present early, by that I mean they seek help from the doctoror dentist

and get referred to the specialist, your chances of being cured is

between 80 to 90%. So why is it that so many people aren't diagnosed as

quickly as Mum? Often it gets missed, purely because people don't

know what they're looking for. That applies to the patients, but often a

lot of GPs and dentists don't know when they're looking at a cancer and

not getting an appropriate preferal quickly. `` referral quickly. A week

later, Mum was all ready for surgery and things were finally going to be

back to normal. A bit scared now of what it's going to look like. I have

got used to wearing this for so long. I suppose it is excitement.

But a bit apprehension at the same time. Yeah, it will be intriguing!

But at the last minute there was a problem finding a bed for after the

operation. Unfortunately we have had to cancel Susan's operation and I

have just had to tell her that. Not surprisingly she is not taking it

too well. I would be exactly the same. If I had worked myself up for

the surgery, psychologically. Well obviously I'm bitterly disappointed.

I understand why it's happened, basically some emergency's come in

and taken the bed that could have been allocated to me. But I'm gutted

to be honest. Mum's been cancelled, because there is no intensive care

bed available. Coming home. Disappointing, but that is the way

it goes. Love you. Kiss. That is pretty terrible really. I thought

the operation was going to go ahead. But... Oh well. We can't do anything

about it. It is the Tom cam and we are in the car on the way to

Birmingham. I'm very nervous, obviously. And I'm scared. It was an

anxious three week wait but on October 7th, the big day finally

arrived. Are you happy for us to start? There were two teams of

surgeons working on Mum at the same time. The plate we have had made for

Susan, he will put that in, which will guide him to putting the bone

in the right position. And because they have given us the measurements

of how much skin they need and what shape they will, we will try and

raise to it that sort of specification. Mum was under the

knife for eight hours, but the wait seemed like forever. Connor's cut

around the skin and he has found the area, the bottom end where we are

going to basically, we have cut the bone and taken a segment out. Later

that evening, I finally got the news I'd been waiting for. Mr Palmer's

just rung and it was all good. I wasn't too nervous. I know Mr

Palmer's a good surgeon. So I trusted him and he delivered and

hopefully we are going to see mum tomorrow and let's hope that she

looks good. Mum's recovery is going well. Only nine days after the

operation, she's been told she can go home. I feel fine. There is a

certain discomfort and the piece of skin that's gone into me mouth, that

needs to have time to shrink further. But, yeah, everything's,

everything feels great. Relevantaway `` really good. There's still a way

to go. When this has healed they'll start rebuilding her teeth. But the

main thing is, Mum's finally got her face back. I'm really excited about

getting me teeth and sorting this nose out. That's got to be sort of

you know sorted out a bit. So it's still bits and bobs to sort, but I'm

happy with what I have got so far. I'm feeling good, because mum looks

brilliant, she looks fantastic and Mr Palmer's done a great job and

this looks amazing. It's a story like Susan's that gets

you thinking ` awareness of head and neck cancer is so low that late

diagnosis is common, meaning 1 in 5 people die within 12 months of the

initial diagnosis. Maybe you're worried and need some more

information? Go to our website: bbc.co.uk/insideout.

Now I'm here at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, where archaeologists

have made a discovery that calls into question the widely`held belief

that Britain's First World War soldiers were sent over the top

without proper training or tactics. The team have found a scale model of

a Belgian town used to prepare soldiers for battle. Could this

prove generals did invest in both training and tactics? We've followed

the project from beginning to end. What passing bells for those who

die. The popular view of the First World

War is that men were sent to fight, poorly led and ill`prepared. This

was reinforced in popular culture by programmes like Blackadder. But

Chief Archaeologist Stephen Dean is convinced we've got it all wrong.

There is a perception there was a lack of training and leadership that

leads to massive casualties. What the work that we are doing is trying

to show a different side to that. By uncovering it he could help to

dispel a popular view of the war: But there's a problem ` he only has

four weeks before the money runs out. He'll have to battle the

elements to get it done in time. We're up against it.

It's week one of the excavation. Archaeologists are clearing a small

section of the site. Excited about the dig. Their

clearing the area. I know it is a unique site. There is nothing like

it in the country. We are doing something that is singular and it is

an exciting time to be an archaeologist.

This is what he's looking for. This photo taken in 1918 appears to show

a model of a First World War battlefield ` used to train troops

for the frontline. If the model is as detailed as he thinks, it could

prove they did get proper training. The model is a mock`up of the town

of Messines in Belgium. It was designed and built by the New

Zealand Rifle Brigade who were based at one of two huge military training

camps on Cannock Chase during the war. It was drawn from their

experiences of the Battle of Messines Ridge in 1917 ` one of the

Allies most successful offensives ` and used to train troops for the

front line. Look at this. And a lovely contour. Where is the

contour? Here. Oh, fantastic. A week on, Stephen is already finding what

he's looking for. We've in the centre of Messines

itself. To my left we have got the market square. With we think it is a

horse bath. Here, we can see the pond. That is one of the water

features of the town and we can see the defensive lines. They are

connected to cellars in the buildings. We have the road network

and we have got more water features to my rear. So we are in the heart

of it. The level of detail is incredible. This is why it is a

great training feature. But it is becoming an act of commemoration for

me. But there's a problem ` the team and

their volunteers only have four weeks of funding from Natural

England to get the site fully excavated.

As you can see, on days like today there's really nothing we can do. As

soon as you get on a monument like this, you start to churn it up, you

cause more damage. So we've called it off for today and we're going to

have to see what happens tomorrow. But the diggers fight back. Despite

the unpredictable weather, a few days later there's been progress,

with a large part of the site excavated. It's mostly down to the

growing number of volunteers turning up to help. But the rain returns. We

are always a hostage to the elements. We are quite up against it

when this sort of thing happens. We have got a set amount of time and

money from Natural England and we have got to try and get as much done

as possible. But we will have to wait and see what the weather brings

us. It's week four of the excavation ` a

surprise visitor turns up bringing with him a revelation. You're on the

site. Lieutenant Colonel Mike Beale from the New Zealand Army is based

at the Commonwealth Office in London. Stephen and Kirsty take him

on a tour of the model and keen to find out what a man in uniform

thinks. What do you think? Amazed by the project, by the scale

of it. From the number of people involved in uncovering it, right

down to the detail. It's just incredible and shows the dedication

of those who were involved in making the model at the time.

And to the surprise of Stephen and Kirsty, he reveals that these types

of models are still used by the army.

Models like this are used by all militaries today. They used on the

section. Before an operation will use what we call a mud model and

scratch out the geographic details to plan where they're going to

enable them to instill in the minds of those involved in the operation

exactly what the grounds will like. So, far from being sent to the front

with no training, they were actually ahead of their time. Thank you for

showing me around and introducing me to the team doing a great job.

The four weeks are up. The money's run out and the excavation is over.

So after the long days and back`breaking work, with dozens of

volunteers doing their bit and braving the weather, did they get

what they set out to achieve? This tells us an awful lot about how

troops are being trained, they're being prepared for the front,

prepared for the trenches. It sort of goes against the idea that we see

in Blackadder that troops are badly trained, badly led, badly equipped.

That may have been the case early on, but by 1917 and 1918 with models

like the Messines Terrain model, that's not the case here.

That's it from me for tonight ` but before I go maybe there's a story

you think I should know about. E`mail me at: [email protected].

But for now, I'll see you next time. Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with your

90 second update. The UK is getting its first nuclear power plant for 20

years. Hinkley Point C in Somerset got the go-ahead today. Ministers

say it will help lower energy bills but critics argue investment in

renewable sources would be better. Meanwhile, N-power has become the

third energy supplier to raise its gusts. Dual-fuel bills will go up by

over ?100 a year from December. 82-year old Mohammed Saleem was

stabbed on his way home from a Birmingham Mosque. Today a Ukrainian

student pleaded guilty to his murder. He also admitted plotting

explosions. Fears of a mega fire in Australia. Experts say three

bushfires in New South Wales could merge into one. A state of

emergency's been declared. 30,000 tonnes in six months. That's how

much food waste Tesco says it generates. It estimates just under

half of all bakery items end