:00:00. > :00:09.You wouldn't drive drunk, but would but would you drive tired?
:00:10. > :00:23.You wouldn't drive drunk, but would you drive tired?
:00:24. > :00:30.Welcome to inside out, I am Paul Hudson. Last week, a surgeon who
:00:31. > :00:34.operated on children at a Leeds hospital was struck out. Why were
:00:35. > :00:42.his mistakes that picked up on earlier? They were defensive to an
:00:43. > :00:47.extreme level, which ended up in them actually disguising the
:00:48. > :00:55.problems. In other words, lying is Mark yes. We beat black and Asian
:00:56. > :01:00.children sent to school miles away from home in a 1960s social
:01:01. > :01:06.experiment. I was always looking at the other is thinking how do I
:01:07. > :01:12.become like them? Later in the programme, amazing footage of these
:01:13. > :01:19.fabulous birds of prey. A surgeon who operated on children for more
:01:20. > :01:23.than a decade has been struck off. But tonight there are claims that
:01:24. > :01:27.the leaves hospital trust when the work of his incompetence because
:01:28. > :01:28.they were fighting to keep the children's heart unit open.
:01:29. > :01:31.Nihal Weerasena was a senior surgeon at Leeds children s heart unit
:01:32. > :01:33.operating on both children and adults with congenital
:01:34. > :01:38.But last week it was found by a medical tribunal
:01:39. > :01:40.that he was not competent to do the job.
:01:41. > :01:43.He will never work as a doctor again.
:01:44. > :01:48.If there was any question about his conduct or his practice
:01:49. > :01:51.and the level of competence that he had he should
:01:52. > :02:01.Mr Weerasena worked at the Leeds General Infirmary
:02:02. > :02:07.from 2002 until he was stopped from operating in 2013.
:02:08. > :02:09.But he continued to be paid his consultant s salary
:02:10. > :02:15.The seven cases heard last week by the Medical Practitioner s Tribunal
:02:16. > :02:18.dated from 2008 to 2012 so why wasn t he stopped
:02:19. > :02:30.Because at the time the Leeds Children's Heart Unit
:02:31. > :02:34.They were terrified that the service would be removed from their hospital
:02:35. > :02:39.and that that would then be a big blight.
:02:40. > :02:43.Her daughter Eve was seven when she went to Leeds
:02:44. > :02:48.for an operation to replace her right ventricle in March 2012.
:02:49. > :02:51.She'd become breathless at school and it had stopped her from running
:02:52. > :02:54.around with her friends and skipping etc, so she knew it
:02:55. > :03:00.And she couldn't wait to get better and get back to doing all the things
:03:01. > :03:07.Eve s surgeon was Nihal Weerasena and hers was one of the seven cases
:03:08. > :03:12.It heard that he failed to vent Eve's heart during a crucial
:03:13. > :03:24.I think anyone would expect these people to be 100% competent
:03:25. > :03:27.at the job they're doing but afterwards I can t
:03:28. > :03:39.But we know that Nihal Weerasena had been making mistakes way before
:03:40. > :03:44.The tribunal found he had made mistakes
:03:45. > :03:52.What do you think about the fact he wasn't stopped before it came
:03:53. > :04:07.During this period, NHS England had been trying to slim down the number
:04:08. > :04:12.And in 2012, it was announced that Leeds Children s Heart Unit,
:04:13. > :04:17.along with units at two other hospitals, was to close.
:04:18. > :04:19.But a few months later, after vigorous campaigning
:04:20. > :04:22.by doctors, patient groups, and local politicians,
:04:23. > :04:25.High Court Judges ruled that the decision to close the Leeds
:04:26. > :04:36.unit was based on incorrect information.
:04:37. > :04:39.We are thrilled about the flawed decision to stop surgery...
:04:40. > :04:41.Yet just a day later, everything changed again.
:04:42. > :04:43.Sir Bruce Keogh, the Medical Director of NHS England ordered
:04:44. > :04:45.the immediate temporary closure of the Leeds unit because of
:04:46. > :04:50.The man who d first raised the alarm over death rates at Leeds children's
:04:51. > :04:53.heart unit was Sir Roger Boyle, head of the National Institute for
:04:54. > :04:57.Cardiovascular Outcomes Research, whose job it was to analyse
:04:58. > :05:04.We got some early analysis, we knew it was preliminary
:05:05. > :05:09.analysis which showed Leeds to be substantial outlier.
:05:10. > :05:10.As I said, the analysis was preliminary.
:05:11. > :05:13.But the results were so startling that I felt I had no alternative
:05:14. > :05:16.but to draw it to the attention of the Medical Director
:05:17. > :05:23.But after further analysis of the data, Leeds was declared safe
:05:24. > :05:39.and reopened 11 days after operations had been suspended.
:05:40. > :05:46.They were terrified that the service would be removed from the hospital.
:05:47. > :05:57.That would have been a terrible blight, both in terms of reputation.
:05:58. > :06:01.But we now know that Nihal Weerasena had been making mistake
:06:02. > :06:04.after mistake in operations on both children and adults for a number
:06:05. > :06:06.of years, including the one which led to the death
:06:07. > :06:12.You're placing your child in their hands, so yes,
:06:13. > :06:26.Yet at the time, the hospital flatly denied that Mr Weerasena s
:06:27. > :06:29.suspension had anything to do with death rates saying?
:06:30. > :06:31.We have asked one of our surgeons to stop
:06:32. > :06:37.within the team relating not to his work in children's surgery
:06:38. > :06:43.We are now investigating the facts in relation to those concerns,
:06:44. > :06:51.which are not about adverse mortality or morbidity figures.
:06:52. > :06:54.But evidence heard at Mr Weerasena s GMC Tribunal in Manchester last week
:06:55. > :06:56.looked at sevencases, six of which involved
:06:57. > :07:04.It raises fresh doubts about the Trust's version of events.
:07:05. > :07:07.An email from the time, released under the Freedom
:07:08. > :07:10.of Information Act, shows that NHS England were well aware of concerns
:07:11. > :07:18.An investigation of this surgeon s outcome data,
:07:19. > :07:20.use of surgical devices and approach to clinical governance indicated
:07:21. > :07:39.that his performance fell short of that which was expected.
:07:40. > :07:46.This letter was sent by six of the Doctor's colleagues to the trust.
:07:47. > :07:50.The letter says previous concerns had been raised about him, leading
:07:51. > :07:54.to a number of investigations over a period of years. They also say there
:07:55. > :08:00.is an apparent excess mortality when compared with his peers. The date of
:08:01. > :08:02.the letter, six days before the trust put out a statement denying
:08:03. > :08:03.that his suspension had anything to that his suspension had anything to
:08:04. > :08:14.do with death rates. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS
:08:15. > :08:17.Trust didn t want to be interviewed but they told us that concerns
:08:18. > :08:19.about Mr Weerasena s surgical outcomes only came to light
:08:20. > :08:22.during a review which took place after their press statement
:08:23. > :08:24.and that they subsequently referred Sir Roger Boyle believes
:08:25. > :08:38.the hospital trust s worries about whether the unit
:08:39. > :08:40.would close down led They were defensive to an extreme
:08:41. > :08:46.level, which ended up in them actually disguising the problems
:08:47. > :08:48.that were present within their organisation from the public,
:08:49. > :08:51.from the media and particularly Yes, I think to be
:08:52. > :09:08.blunt about it, yes. A senior paediatric cardiac
:09:09. > :09:10.consultant Babulal Sethia told the panel said that,
:09:11. > :09:12.Mr Weerasena showed 'poor clinical practice during operations'
:09:13. > :09:16.and that his post-operative notes left out crucial details
:09:17. > :09:41.about procedures that hadn't You put all of your trust in medical
:09:42. > :09:51.practitioners and it is a real betrayal. The hospital has reviewed
:09:52. > :09:57.their apologies to those families were significant mistakes took place
:09:58. > :10:01.in his care. It says it was open and truthful in his statement to the
:10:02. > :10:06.public, media and then peas and concerns raised were taken seriously
:10:07. > :10:12.a number of independent reviews a number of independent reviews
:10:13. > :10:14.concluded that the service was safe. At one point you said he would not
:10:15. > :10:16.send your child to Leeds for heart send your child to Leeds for heart
:10:17. > :10:25.surgery, do you stand by that? You said at the time that
:10:26. > :10:27.you wouldn t send your child The hospital is now as good
:10:28. > :10:36.as any other hospital in England. I just told her she'd go to sleep
:10:37. > :10:39.and she wouldn't know anything because she'd be asleep and that I'd
:10:40. > :10:53.see her when she woke The Leeds teaching hospitals NHS
:10:54. > :10:57.Trust said that if any families have concerns about the findings of this
:10:58. > :10:58.hearing they can contact the hospital's patient advice and
:10:59. > :11:12.liaison service. And if you have got any comments on
:11:13. > :11:18.the programme tonight, or you have a story we might like the cover, you
:11:19. > :11:21.can get on contact on Facebook. Coming up, the majestic birds of
:11:22. > :11:29.prey coming to feed in the back gardens of urban Leeds.
:11:30. > :11:35.They called at Boston and it was controversial. Taking black and
:11:36. > :11:39.Asian children from the area where they lived and transported them by
:11:40. > :11:43.bus to schools in another part of town. I have been hearing just what
:11:44. > :11:49.it was like from people who were sent as children back in the 1960s.
:11:50. > :11:54.Every morning, six double-decker buses take 80 children each from
:11:55. > :12:00.pick-up points across the city to the schools they have been
:12:01. > :12:05.allocated. I remember it being very cold and hanging around for a long
:12:06. > :12:14.time. You were being taken away, even though there were other schools
:12:15. > :12:17.nearby. My overriding memory was the melee of young people and the fear
:12:18. > :12:26.of getting lost, because there were just so many young kids there. If
:12:27. > :12:29.you are black or Asian and grew up in Bradford, Halifax or Huddersfield
:12:30. > :12:35.in the 1960s, the chances are this is one of your most vivid memories
:12:36. > :12:39.of primary school. It was a solution to a problem, large numbers of Asian
:12:40. > :12:43.and Afro-Caribbean families were heading to the UK, their children
:12:44. > :12:46.had to be educated, but schools could not cope with these extra
:12:47. > :12:56.pupils, many of whom could not speak English. So, in 1965, 11 local
:12:57. > :13:00.authorities can put the solution, this immigrant children would make
:13:01. > :13:05.The rest would be sent to other The rest would be sent to other
:13:06. > :13:10.to put the children from overseas in to put the children from overseas in
:13:11. > :13:13.a situation where they have to mix. This means they are going to have to
:13:14. > :13:22.communicate, they will hear English spoken. Some of the language they
:13:23. > :13:24.heard was upsetting. They were marked with different coloured
:13:25. > :13:29.group was theirs. We would look for group was theirs. We would look for
:13:30. > :13:32.a yellow Sun or a black footballer, red diamond stud he would wait for
:13:33. > :13:39.your red diamond boss, get on and when you got to the school, suddenly
:13:40. > :13:44.it was the Pakistani bus. This woman moved to Bradford from Kenyan aged
:13:45. > :13:48.seven. The bus monitor would go around the classrooms and say, can I
:13:49. > :13:54.have all the immigrants please. Then all the black children would stand
:13:55. > :13:59.up, walk out in a little line. Yet, more and more children were being
:14:00. > :14:05.passed. In 19 six to seven, Bradford was taking in 30 non-English
:14:06. > :14:10.children each week. That is the same of one new classroom and one of the
:14:11. > :14:16.teacher. Brenda told some of these new arrivals. It was done with the
:14:17. > :14:20.best of intentions. It was assumed the children would learn English
:14:21. > :14:26.better in a naturally English-speaking environment, which
:14:27. > :14:31.is OK, if you speak to your friends in the classroom, but if you don't
:14:32. > :14:36.it doesn't help. Even well-meaning children used language which would
:14:37. > :14:43.shock today. I was watching on one occasion when they were giving out
:14:44. > :14:50.the milk. The Asian child tried to give the milk to provide child and
:14:51. > :14:56.he pushed it away. In the end, one little boy got so exasperated with
:14:57. > :15:04.this but he said, ticket, Pakistanis are just the same as people. One man
:15:05. > :15:12.went to school and was filmed by a BBC panorama programme. We had one
:15:13. > :15:17.teacher. It was that lady and that lady alone. We were in an annex of
:15:18. > :15:23.the main school. We were not Nixon. Had we been in another school,
:15:24. > :15:29.mixing with all the other children and then the policy could work. The
:15:30. > :15:32.project is about a British government policy. The feeling of
:15:33. > :15:36.what it was like to be passed as stock, so much so that they have
:15:37. > :15:41.started recording the memories of other children who were part of
:15:42. > :15:46.this. Some people remember it as a happy experience. Other members were
:15:47. > :15:50.similar to my own. Thank you for coming and spending the afternoon
:15:51. > :15:54.with me. It was not just new arrivals were dispersed. And Asian
:15:55. > :16:00.child was a potential boss child, even if you came from England. I was
:16:01. > :16:04.born in Bradford and had a good Yorkshire accent when I was younger.
:16:05. > :16:10.I remember one school report, the teacher said to my father, does not
:16:11. > :16:14.speak English. My father is very upset and I was reprimanded for
:16:15. > :16:18.this, because the only language I could speak at that time was
:16:19. > :16:23.English. I think this made me feel as if I wasn't there. I couldn't
:16:24. > :16:29.speak English and I did answer questions and, so, when I went back
:16:30. > :16:36.to school for the second term, you could not stop me talking. Brenda's
:16:37. > :16:41.work with immigrant children wanted her to study the effects of the
:16:42. > :16:45.programme. This psychological service did a reading test at six
:16:46. > :16:49.plus to see how all the children in the schools were getting on. The
:16:50. > :16:53.results of that, when I looked at it, showed that the children who
:16:54. > :16:59.stayed in the local school were actually doing better, even though
:17:00. > :17:06.there were 50% Asian children, compared to children who had been
:17:07. > :17:11.bussed out. By 1979, Bradford was sending out 24 buses a day, but in
:17:12. > :17:15.another authority, Ealing, campaigners challenged bussing in
:17:16. > :17:21.court saying it fell foul of new race relations legislation. This
:17:22. > :17:25.policy was racially motivated. It has continued to be racist in that
:17:26. > :17:30.black children are sent. Educationally it has been a
:17:31. > :17:34.disaster. Likewise socially and culturally. Bradford took note. The
:17:35. > :17:42.community there had had enough of Boston as well. In March 1979, the
:17:43. > :17:45.petition was presented to the then chairperson of the education
:17:46. > :17:54.committee, signed by 1600 parents who demanded the end of bussing. It
:17:55. > :18:00.was one-way traffic. Only children from the inner-city areas, the
:18:01. > :18:05.prairies, and particularly black and Asian children, were being passed
:18:06. > :18:09.into the urban middle class areas. Would he have been in favour if it
:18:10. > :18:12.had been reciprocated and white middle-class children were bussed to
:18:13. > :18:17.inner-city areas? Indeed, I would inner-city areas? Indeed, I would
:18:18. > :18:24.have been and I am still now. I am in favour of integration and the
:18:25. > :18:29.best way to promote this is in the area of education. Bussing children
:18:30. > :18:33.and rejected. In 1980, Bradford and rejected. In 1980, Bradford
:18:34. > :18:42.became the last place in the UK to face of us and for good. What is a
:18:43. > :18:53.preposition? The city has seen another wave of migration, mostly
:18:54. > :18:56.from Eastern Europe. What does that work say? These children attend
:18:57. > :19:01.their local schools with extra help to learn English and to integrate.
:19:02. > :19:06.Sometimes when children first over, they are quite daunted by being in a
:19:07. > :19:09.new school and a new area. Very quickly, because of the experiences
:19:10. > :19:14.we take them on, they make friends and they start to feel very
:19:15. > :19:26.comfortable. Bussing left its mark on the previous generation. I think
:19:27. > :19:29.bussing was the beginning of my journey to fighting discrimination
:19:30. > :19:39.appear to have been a good idea and appear to have been a good idea and
:19:40. > :19:44.working, but in fact it was not. Had it been done properly, I think it
:19:45. > :19:49.might have been helpful. Something like bussing is always going to be a
:19:50. > :19:52.superficial solution to the bigger issues, which are poverty and a lack
:19:53. > :20:05.of knowledge about each other. Our next report has some amazing
:20:06. > :20:11.footage of some of Yorkshire's best loved birds of prey. The red kite on
:20:12. > :20:15.disappeared from our skies but thanks to a reintroduction
:20:16. > :20:17.programme, they are fairly common. Some people are even feeding them in
:20:18. > :20:24.their back gardens. Red kites, one of our largest birds
:20:25. > :20:28.of prey, a truly majestic sight These fabulous birds were once
:20:29. > :20:34.extinct from Yorkshire Now, they re back and today you can
:20:35. > :20:41.find them in the most Just a couple of miles
:20:42. > :20:49.from the city centre, high rises and factories
:20:50. > :20:52.on the skyline. Its 9 o' clock, and the red kites
:20:53. > :21:01.are out on their regular patrol above seacroft,
:21:02. > :21:09.looking for carrion. I ve come to meet two neighbours
:21:10. > :21:13.who are lucky enough to get a closer The birds are regular
:21:14. > :21:39.visitors to Roys back garden The wingspan is fabulous. You get
:21:40. > :21:41.hooked on it. Where do you put food? On top of the shed. This would put
:21:42. > :21:43.down and it is a spectacle. They ve had up to a dozen birds
:21:44. > :21:59.at a time in the garden, Look at that. I have another shot on
:22:00. > :22:04.this one. There are for coming down. Beautiful. We have all the time in
:22:05. > :22:04.the world. These birds move really fast,
:22:05. > :22:10.so today we ve got a specialist slow mo camera to try and capture
:22:11. > :22:13.the Seacroft kites Our cameraman, Steve,
:22:14. > :22:20.has a hide with a clear Out goes the fresh meat,
:22:21. > :22:25.perfect for carrion eating kites, Its not long before
:22:26. > :22:41.the birds start to appear. A kite was circling above. It will
:22:42. > :22:46.have seen the food being placed out and they have the most astonishing
:22:47. > :22:58.eyesight. It is the equivalent of a pair of binoculars stuck to our face
:22:59. > :23:03.permanently. Let's see what happens. It is low and it is coming this way.
:23:04. > :23:04.Coming this way. Just behind you Steve.
:23:05. > :23:07.The kites are so easy to spot, with their six foot wingspan,
:23:08. > :23:09.gliding motion, and distinctive forked tail, which acts
:23:10. > :23:13.After three hours of watching and waiting, we ve got
:23:14. > :23:23.seagulls, but our kites are proving camera shy.
:23:24. > :23:27.There are one or two cakes around, but they are frustrating us.
:23:28. > :23:29.Eventually, after six long lonely hours, the winter daylight is fading
:23:30. > :23:34.Sad, but Im thrilled to see this majestic bird flying over the most
:23:35. > :23:45.We never managed to catch the kite swooping down. I am thrilled to see
:23:46. > :23:57.this majestic bird flying over the most urban of landscapes. When I was
:23:58. > :23:59.a bird-watcher back in the mid-19 80s the only place to see a red kite
:24:00. > :24:06.was made in Wales. Now they are in was made in Wales. Now they are in
:24:07. > :24:11.urban Leeds, just over there. They have always been an urban bird.
:24:12. > :24:15.Shakespeare wrote about it. They would scavenge in the street in
:24:16. > :24:19.medieval times. They were probably doing a public service.
:24:20. > :24:23.tits in their gardens, but should we be feeding
:24:24. > :24:34.You have to be a little bit careful. Cured meat is not what they usually
:24:35. > :24:39.eat. They eat bone and things as well. If they feed their checks on
:24:40. > :24:41.pure made it can cause calcium deficiency.
:24:42. > :24:44.I still can't help but be in awe of seeing Red Kites
:24:45. > :24:48.145 years ago they were persecuted to extinction in England.
:24:49. > :24:52.But in 1999, 69 birds were reintroduced in Yorkshire
:24:53. > :24:57.And what success story it s been, over 100 breeding pairs this year,
:24:58. > :25:18.That is a pretty impressive stag. I am looking at a red deer with a huge
:25:19. > :25:22.set of answers, but I am not after that, I am after something else that
:25:23. > :25:29.is read that should be flying in the air around here. The large number of
:25:30. > :25:37.Katie and more birds competing for food. It is no surprise they are
:25:38. > :25:42.also being fed in back gardens here. I would shake your hand, but it
:25:43. > :25:45.looks like you are a bit busy. Eileen has been feeding the birds
:25:46. > :25:54.daily for the last two years, giving them the best cups fresh from the
:25:55. > :26:08.butchers. This cannot be cheap. No, it isn't cheap. I do get some help
:26:09. > :26:16.now. Right then. It is close to one o'clock. I get the feeling, there is
:26:17. > :26:20.one bird up there already. He is the fighter of the lot. He keeps them
:26:21. > :26:29.all in order. How can you recognise him? He has got missing feathers. It
:26:30. > :26:33.is because he is always fighting. This might be our best chance to get
:26:34. > :26:39.those elusive slow motion shots of the kites. We are all set up with a
:26:40. > :26:46.hide and camera. And, we not alone. Thanks to Eileen it is an open
:26:47. > :26:51.secret that this cafe is one of the best spots in the north to the red
:26:52. > :26:56.kites close-up. Quite if you birds are circling. We just need one to
:26:57. > :27:07.come down, because that will result in the rest then piling in. They are
:27:08. > :27:15.making a sweat. They are teasing us. But finally, we got what we came
:27:16. > :27:25.for. They got there. A sky full of kites.
:27:26. > :27:43.Fabulous. Just tumbled out of the error. Look at that. Not one. A sky
:27:44. > :27:49.we were hoping for. Yorkshire we were hoping for. Yorkshire
:27:50. > :27:56.redcoats and six times slower than real time. What will Eileen Nick
:27:57. > :28:03.Gifford birds revealed in all their glory? Here we go. With the them
:28:04. > :28:12.grabbing the food. That is fantastic. See that beautiful red
:28:13. > :28:16.tail as they come in. They swing their talons down like landing gear.
:28:17. > :28:24.It usually happens so quickly you don't appreciate it. Oh my word,
:28:25. > :28:26.that is lovely. That has been a privilege to see these huge and
:28:27. > :28:31.graceful birds in glorious slow motion. And one more thing, we went
:28:32. > :28:38.back to Seacroft a week later and this time the kites were not quite
:28:39. > :28:39.so camera shy. Yorkshire's redcoats, coming to an urban landscape near
:28:40. > :28:49.you. That is all from me. I will be back
:28:50. > :28:53.next week. We will meet the primary school girl who was born a boy. We
:28:54. > :28:57.hear how a rural community is dealing with the proposed closure of
:28:58. > :28:59.the hospital and I find out why Lawrence of Arabia moved to the
:29:00. > :29:01.seaside resort of Bridlington.