23/01/2017 Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

You wouldn't drive drunk, but would but would you drive tired?

You wouldn't drive drunk, but would you drive tired?

Welcome to inside out, I am Paul Hudson. Last week, a surgeon who

operated on children at a Leeds hospital was struck out. Why were

his mistakes that picked up on earlier? They were defensive to an

extreme level, which ended up in them actually disguising the

problems. In other words, lying is Mark yes. We beat black and Asian

children sent to school miles away from home in a 1960s social

experiment. I was always looking at the other is thinking how do I

become like them? Later in the programme, amazing footage of these

fabulous birds of prey. A surgeon who operated on children for more

than a decade has been struck off. But tonight there are claims that

the leaves hospital trust when the work of his incompetence because

they were fighting to keep the children's heart unit open.

Nihal Weerasena was a senior surgeon at Leeds children s heart unit

operating on both children and adults with congenital

But last week it was found by a medical tribunal

that he was not competent to do the job.

He will never work as a doctor again.

If there was any question about his conduct or his practice

and the level of competence that he had he should

Mr Weerasena worked at the Leeds General Infirmary

from 2002 until he was stopped from operating in 2013.

But he continued to be paid his consultant s salary

The seven cases heard last week by the Medical Practitioner s Tribunal

dated from 2008 to 2012 so why wasn t he stopped

Because at the time the Leeds Children's Heart Unit

They were terrified that the service would be removed from their hospital

and that that would then be a big blight.

Her daughter Eve was seven when she went to Leeds

for an operation to replace her right ventricle in March 2012.

She'd become breathless at school and it had stopped her from running

around with her friends and skipping etc, so she knew it

And she couldn't wait to get better and get back to doing all the things

Eve s surgeon was Nihal Weerasena and hers was one of the seven cases

It heard that he failed to vent Eve's heart during a crucial

I think anyone would expect these people to be 100% competent

at the job they're doing but afterwards I can t

But we know that Nihal Weerasena had been making mistakes way before

The tribunal found he had made mistakes

What do you think about the fact he wasn't stopped before it came

During this period, NHS England had been trying to slim down the number

And in 2012, it was announced that Leeds Children s Heart Unit,

along with units at two other hospitals, was to close.

But a few months later, after vigorous campaigning

by doctors, patient groups, and local politicians,

High Court Judges ruled that the decision to close the Leeds

unit was based on incorrect information.

We are thrilled about the flawed decision to stop surgery...

Yet just a day later, everything changed again.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the Medical Director of NHS England ordered

the immediate temporary closure of the Leeds unit because of

The man who d first raised the alarm over death rates at Leeds children's

heart unit was Sir Roger Boyle, head of the National Institute for

Cardiovascular Outcomes Research, whose job it was to analyse

We got some early analysis, we knew it was preliminary

analysis which showed Leeds to be substantial outlier.

As I said, the analysis was preliminary.

But the results were so startling that I felt I had no alternative

but to draw it to the attention of the Medical Director

But after further analysis of the data, Leeds was declared safe

and reopened 11 days after operations had been suspended.

They were terrified that the service would be removed from the hospital.

That would have been a terrible blight, both in terms of reputation.

But we now know that Nihal Weerasena had been making mistake

after mistake in operations on both children and adults for a number

of years, including the one which led to the death

You're placing your child in their hands, so yes,

Yet at the time, the hospital flatly denied that Mr Weerasena s

suspension had anything to do with death rates saying?

We have asked one of our surgeons to stop

within the team relating not to his work in children's surgery

We are now investigating the facts in relation to those concerns,

which are not about adverse mortality or morbidity figures.

But evidence heard at Mr Weerasena s GMC Tribunal in Manchester last week

looked at sevencases, six of which involved

It raises fresh doubts about the Trust's version of events.

An email from the time, released under the Freedom

of Information Act, shows that NHS England were well aware of concerns

An investigation of this surgeon s outcome data,

use of surgical devices and approach to clinical governance indicated

that his performance fell short of that which was expected.

This letter was sent by six of the Doctor's colleagues to the trust.

The letter says previous concerns had been raised about him, leading

to a number of investigations over a period of years. They also say there

is an apparent excess mortality when compared with his peers. The date of

the letter, six days before the trust put out a statement denying

that his suspension had anything to that his suspension had anything to

do with death rates. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS

Trust didn t want to be interviewed but they told us that concerns

about Mr Weerasena s surgical outcomes only came to light

during a review which took place after their press statement

and that they subsequently referred Sir Roger Boyle believes

the hospital trust s worries about whether the unit

would close down led They were defensive to an extreme

level, which ended up in them actually disguising the problems

that were present within their organisation from the public,

from the media and particularly Yes, I think to be

blunt about it, yes. A senior paediatric cardiac

consultant Babulal Sethia told the panel said that,

Mr Weerasena showed 'poor clinical practice during operations'

and that his post-operative notes left out crucial details

about procedures that hadn't You put all of your trust in medical

practitioners and it is a real betrayal. The hospital has reviewed

their apologies to those families were significant mistakes took place

in his care. It says it was open and truthful in his statement to the

public, media and then peas and concerns raised were taken seriously

a number of independent reviews a number of independent reviews

concluded that the service was safe. At one point you said he would not

send your child to Leeds for heart send your child to Leeds for heart

surgery, do you stand by that? You said at the time that

you wouldn t send your child The hospital is now as good

as any other hospital in England. I just told her she'd go to sleep

and she wouldn't know anything because she'd be asleep and that I'd

see her when she woke The Leeds teaching hospitals NHS

Trust said that if any families have concerns about the findings of this

hearing they can contact the hospital's patient advice and

liaison service. And if you have got any comments on

the programme tonight, or you have a story we might like the cover, you

can get on contact on Facebook. Coming up, the majestic birds of

prey coming to feed in the back gardens of urban Leeds.

They called at Boston and it was controversial. Taking black and

Asian children from the area where they lived and transported them by

bus to schools in another part of town. I have been hearing just what

it was like from people who were sent as children back in the 1960s.

Every morning, six double-decker buses take 80 children each from

pick-up points across the city to the schools they have been

allocated. I remember it being very cold and hanging around for a long

time. You were being taken away, even though there were other schools

nearby. My overriding memory was the melee of young people and the fear

of getting lost, because there were just so many young kids there. If

you are black or Asian and grew up in Bradford, Halifax or Huddersfield

in the 1960s, the chances are this is one of your most vivid memories

of primary school. It was a solution to a problem, large numbers of Asian

and Afro-Caribbean families were heading to the UK, their children

had to be educated, but schools could not cope with these extra

pupils, many of whom could not speak English. So, in 1965, 11 local

authorities can put the solution, this immigrant children would make

The rest would be sent to other The rest would be sent to other

to put the children from overseas in to put the children from overseas in

a situation where they have to mix. This means they are going to have to

communicate, they will hear English spoken. Some of the language they

heard was upsetting. They were marked with different coloured

group was theirs. We would look for group was theirs. We would look for

a yellow Sun or a black footballer, red diamond stud he would wait for

your red diamond boss, get on and when you got to the school, suddenly

it was the Pakistani bus. This woman moved to Bradford from Kenyan aged

seven. The bus monitor would go around the classrooms and say, can I

have all the immigrants please. Then all the black children would stand

up, walk out in a little line. Yet, more and more children were being

passed. In 19 six to seven, Bradford was taking in 30 non-English

children each week. That is the same of one new classroom and one of the

teacher. Brenda told some of these new arrivals. It was done with the

best of intentions. It was assumed the children would learn English

better in a naturally English-speaking environment, which

is OK, if you speak to your friends in the classroom, but if you don't

it doesn't help. Even well-meaning children used language which would

shock today. I was watching on one occasion when they were giving out

the milk. The Asian child tried to give the milk to provide child and

he pushed it away. In the end, one little boy got so exasperated with

this but he said, ticket, Pakistanis are just the same as people. One man

went to school and was filmed by a BBC panorama programme. We had one

teacher. It was that lady and that lady alone. We were in an annex of

the main school. We were not Nixon. Had we been in another school,

mixing with all the other children and then the policy could work. The

project is about a British government policy. The feeling of

what it was like to be passed as stock, so much so that they have

started recording the memories of other children who were part of

this. Some people remember it as a happy experience. Other members were

similar to my own. Thank you for coming and spending the afternoon

with me. It was not just new arrivals were dispersed. And Asian

child was a potential boss child, even if you came from England. I was

born in Bradford and had a good Yorkshire accent when I was younger.

I remember one school report, the teacher said to my father, does not

speak English. My father is very upset and I was reprimanded for

this, because the only language I could speak at that time was

English. I think this made me feel as if I wasn't there. I couldn't

speak English and I did answer questions and, so, when I went back

to school for the second term, you could not stop me talking. Brenda's

work with immigrant children wanted her to study the effects of the

programme. This psychological service did a reading test at six

plus to see how all the children in the schools were getting on. The

results of that, when I looked at it, showed that the children who

stayed in the local school were actually doing better, even though

there were 50% Asian children, compared to children who had been

bussed out. By 1979, Bradford was sending out 24 buses a day, but in

another authority, Ealing, campaigners challenged bussing in

court saying it fell foul of new race relations legislation. This

policy was racially motivated. It has continued to be racist in that

black children are sent. Educationally it has been a

disaster. Likewise socially and culturally. Bradford took note. The

community there had had enough of Boston as well. In March 1979, the

petition was presented to the then chairperson of the education

committee, signed by 1600 parents who demanded the end of bussing. It

was one-way traffic. Only children from the inner-city areas, the

prairies, and particularly black and Asian children, were being passed

into the urban middle class areas. Would he have been in favour if it

had been reciprocated and white middle-class children were bussed to

inner-city areas? Indeed, I would inner-city areas? Indeed, I would

have been and I am still now. I am in favour of integration and the

best way to promote this is in the area of education. Bussing children

and rejected. In 1980, Bradford and rejected. In 1980, Bradford

became the last place in the UK to face of us and for good. What is a

preposition? The city has seen another wave of migration, mostly

from Eastern Europe. What does that work say? These children attend

their local schools with extra help to learn English and to integrate.

Sometimes when children first over, they are quite daunted by being in a

new school and a new area. Very quickly, because of the experiences

we take them on, they make friends and they start to feel very

comfortable. Bussing left its mark on the previous generation. I think

bussing was the beginning of my journey to fighting discrimination

appear to have been a good idea and appear to have been a good idea and

working, but in fact it was not. Had it been done properly, I think it

might have been helpful. Something like bussing is always going to be a

superficial solution to the bigger issues, which are poverty and a lack

of knowledge about each other. Our next report has some amazing

footage of some of Yorkshire's best loved birds of prey. The red kite on

disappeared from our skies but thanks to a reintroduction

programme, they are fairly common. Some people are even feeding them in

their back gardens. Red kites, one of our largest birds

of prey, a truly majestic sight These fabulous birds were once

extinct from Yorkshire Now, they re back and today you can

find them in the most Just a couple of miles

from the city centre, high rises and factories

on the skyline. Its 9 o' clock, and the red kites

are out on their regular patrol above seacroft,

looking for carrion. I ve come to meet two neighbours

who are lucky enough to get a closer The birds are regular

visitors to Roys back garden The wingspan is fabulous. You get

hooked on it. Where do you put food? On top of the shed. This would put

down and it is a spectacle. They ve had up to a dozen birds

at a time in the garden, Look at that. I have another shot on

this one. There are for coming down. Beautiful. We have all the time in

the world. These birds move really fast,

so today we ve got a specialist slow mo camera to try and capture

the Seacroft kites Our cameraman, Steve,

has a hide with a clear Out goes the fresh meat,

perfect for carrion eating kites, Its not long before

the birds start to appear. A kite was circling above. It will

have seen the food being placed out and they have the most astonishing

eyesight. It is the equivalent of a pair of binoculars stuck to our face

permanently. Let's see what happens. It is low and it is coming this way.

Coming this way. Just behind you Steve.

The kites are so easy to spot, with their six foot wingspan,

gliding motion, and distinctive forked tail, which acts

After three hours of watching and waiting, we ve got

seagulls, but our kites are proving camera shy.

There are one or two cakes around, but they are frustrating us.

Eventually, after six long lonely hours, the winter daylight is fading

Sad, but Im thrilled to see this majestic bird flying over the most

We never managed to catch the kite swooping down. I am thrilled to see

this majestic bird flying over the most urban of landscapes. When I was

a bird-watcher back in the mid-19 80s the only place to see a red kite

was made in Wales. Now they are in was made in Wales. Now they are in

urban Leeds, just over there. They have always been an urban bird.

Shakespeare wrote about it. They would scavenge in the street in

medieval times. They were probably doing a public service.

tits in their gardens, but should we be feeding

You have to be a little bit careful. Cured meat is not what they usually

eat. They eat bone and things as well. If they feed their checks on

pure made it can cause calcium deficiency.

I still can't help but be in awe of seeing Red Kites

145 years ago they were persecuted to extinction in England.

But in 1999, 69 birds were reintroduced in Yorkshire

And what success story it s been, over 100 breeding pairs this year,

That is a pretty impressive stag. I am looking at a red deer with a huge

set of answers, but I am not after that, I am after something else that

is read that should be flying in the air around here. The large number of

Katie and more birds competing for food. It is no surprise they are

also being fed in back gardens here. I would shake your hand, but it

looks like you are a bit busy. Eileen has been feeding the birds

daily for the last two years, giving them the best cups fresh from the

butchers. This cannot be cheap. No, it isn't cheap. I do get some help

now. Right then. It is close to one o'clock. I get the feeling, there is

one bird up there already. He is the fighter of the lot. He keeps them

all in order. How can you recognise him? He has got missing feathers. It

is because he is always fighting. This might be our best chance to get

those elusive slow motion shots of the kites. We are all set up with a

hide and camera. And, we not alone. Thanks to Eileen it is an open

secret that this cafe is one of the best spots in the north to the red

kites close-up. Quite if you birds are circling. We just need one to

come down, because that will result in the rest then piling in. They are

making a sweat. They are teasing us. But finally, we got what we came

for. They got there. A sky full of kites.

Fabulous. Just tumbled out of the error. Look at that. Not one. A sky

we were hoping for. Yorkshire we were hoping for. Yorkshire

redcoats and six times slower than real time. What will Eileen Nick

Gifford birds revealed in all their glory? Here we go. With the them

grabbing the food. That is fantastic. See that beautiful red

tail as they come in. They swing their talons down like landing gear.

It usually happens so quickly you don't appreciate it. Oh my word,

that is lovely. That has been a privilege to see these huge and

graceful birds in glorious slow motion. And one more thing, we went

back to Seacroft a week later and this time the kites were not quite

so camera shy. Yorkshire's redcoats, coming to an urban landscape near

you. That is all from me. I will be back

next week. We will meet the primary school girl who was born a boy. We

hear how a rural community is dealing with the proposed closure of

the hospital and I find out why Lawrence of Arabia moved to the

seaside resort of Bridlington.