19/01/2018 Newswatch

This week, is the BBC too

obsessed with the problems

in our health service?

Hello and welcome to Newswatch,

with me, Samira Ahmed.

Flu, a nursing shortage -

the NHS winter crisis

is dominating headlines.

But is BBC News

overplaying the negative?

We ask health editor, Hugh Pym,

weather BBC coverage could be

damaging confidence among NHS staff

and the public.

First, it's not always what you see

on the news which captures

the attention of Newswatch viewers,

but when you see it.

On Wednesday evening, a football

match was showing live on BBC One.

If you're interested,

an FA Cup third-round replay

between Chelsea and Norwich City.

Unfortunately, not everyone was

interested and when the broadcast

overran because of the start

to the game and they go into extra

time and then a penalty shoot out,

some of them were pretty angry,

as the News at Ten became

the news at 10:45pm.

Here is Deborah.

Last night, my husband and I got

home after a long day at work

and we do like to sit down and watch

the Ten O'Clock News.

But it turns out a football match

was over running and the news had

to be displaced by 45 minutes.

I just don't think somebody's

got their head screwed on.

If the football match

is that important, put it

on a different channel.

But I feel news comes

before football.

Another sport caught the attention

of some viewers last Saturday,

although not all of them might

describe it as a sport.

Breakfast decided to look

at the world of bare knuckle boxing,

with this report from Johnny

I'Anson.

Liam Cullan in Leeds has spent

a lifetime in combat sport,

but this weekend, he's fighting

for a world title in one

of the most extreme of all.

When I say the words,

bare knuckle boxing,

you possibly think of gangsters

settling feuds in

old Victorian times.

But there are a group of people

but determined to bring the sport

back to the mainstream and take it

legally to the masses.

A Twitter user called Suzie Q

objected to that report,

writing that she was "disappointed"

the BBC is promoting

and endorsing violent sport.

"Gratuitous violence.

What's the difference

between this and a street brawl?

Hope there aren't too

many children watching.

Shameful."

Now, not for the first time,

we are in the middle of a winter

of difficulties and challenges

for the national health service.

BBC News has been reporting them

with considerable attention.

Tonight at Six, an apology from

Theresa May after new figures reveal

pressure on the NHS this winter.

From ambulance transfer delays,

unprecedented calls to the helpline

and operations postponed.

A stark claim by doctors.

Winter pressures have left

patients dying prematurely

in hospital corridors.

They say safety in A&E units

in England and Wales

has been compromised

at a sometimes intolerable level.

There is a clear emergency

and what a number of other observers

have clearly described as a crisis.

One in ten nurses is leaving the NHS

in England every year,

as the gap between those leaving

and joining the profession widens.

Hospital consultants in Wales say

patient safety is being compromised

and that the NHS and social care

are chronically under resourced.

We've got patients that

are in the department where we don't

have space to see them and then

we are coming back the next day and

some of the patients are still here.

It's getting worse every winter, but

this is the worst we have seen it.

Viewer, Mike Hill,

reacted to the coverage

he'd seen by writing...

"Every year the BBC in January

encourages public hysteria

by sensationalist reporting.

An open door is offered to every

medical group, trade union,

charity and politician

with the same crisis message.

And Robert put it like this...

"I am tired of hearing

the scurrilous comments

on BBC News programmes

running down the NHS and the annual

pressures they are

coping with admirably.

The nursing staff are

demoralised as a result."

Meanwhile, Brian Megson declared

himself a fan of BBC News,

but he echoed those reservations.

What I don't enjoy is your constant

commentary about the NHS.

You start off in December and then

you really let rip in January.

Every day there's a report

about how bad it is,

people dying in corridors,

not enough nurses, enough doctors.

There's always something wrong

with the NHS every day for you guys

and you really should stop it.

It's a wonderful organisation,

why can't you let it be?

It's a very big, tough organisation

to run for those who are running it

and I wish he would stop this

obsession and fixation with it.

Well, Hugh Pym, the health editor

for BBC News is with me now.

Thank you for coming Newswatch.

There is a sense that the NHS

in crisis story comes

around each winter.

Are you too negative

in how you focus on it?

Well, there's always

a balance to be struck,

we are very aware of that.

The balance between recognising

that the NHS does a fantastic job

throughout the year and it is a very

popular and well

regarded institution.

The staff work extremely hard.

But also recognising that

if is under great pressure and staff

are feeling the pressure,

and that is often what we are being

told, then we need to report that.

We need to hold the government

to account on the performance

of the NHS and the management

of the NHS in different

parts of the UK.

Now, this winter it's been made

abundantly clear to us by many

people on the front line,

that the pressure is greater

than they have known before,

even worse than last year.

Many of them think

the NHS is underfunded.

We've had stories from patients

as well about very, very long waits

in ambulances outside hospitals

and we have a duty to report that.

You've absolutely made

the journalistic case

for why this is news,

it's about what is abnormal.

But is there enough consideration

of the cumulative effect

of all the stories, that they might

actually be hurting peoples'

confidence and undermining staff

morale, which is what some viewers

are concerned about?

Well, a couple of the stories

we did just to highlight,

as we've seen just a few minutes

ago, the letter from 68

leading A&E consultants.

Again, on the front line of the NHS,

writing to the Prime Minister,

saying they have very serious safety

concerns, that people

could be dying prematurely

because of waiting in corridors.

That letter echoed by

consultants in Wales,

writing to the First Minister.

If that's how they feel in the NHS,

then I think we have to report that.

And when it went out on social

media, there were a lot of tweets

from people in different parts

of the NHS, welcoming the fact

that senior clinicians

were speaking out like that.

So in terms of the negative impact,

it's hard to tell with morale,

but we have done positive stories

about the role of

nurses, for example.

A whole day of coverage

on the valuable role they play.

Also positive stories

about how some hospitals,

in the face of great pressure,

are coping and are having

to devise ways of streaming

people through A&E.

I highlighted a scheme in Ipswich.

We've looked at the performance

of Luton's A&E, hitting

all their targets.

A video on our website on that.

So I think we do always

try to highlight the steps

which have been taken

to mitigate this pressure.

It is interesting you mentioned

the day focused on nursing,

because it was Jeremy Hunt,

the Health Secretary, tweeted that

while the BBC's focus was good,

he accused the BBC of underplaying

the increase in nurse

training places.

Does he have a point?

Well, we were highlighting the story

which was that last year,

the year to September 2017,

more nurses had left the NHS band

the year to September 2017,

more nurses had left the NHS than

joined it in England.

There was a 3000 gap and that hadn't

been seen at all in recent years.

There was a small gap

in the previous year,

but it had been positive a few

years before that.

Highlighting the real

recruitment and retention

challenges the NHS has.

The government's line is,

new training places have been set up

for a future flow of nurses

and we did report that.

But they are, in a way,

different stories.

Yes, planning for the

future is one thing,

which the government

is trying to do.

What was the situation last year?

That was illustrated by the facts

we quoted from NHS Digital.

It is very clear from our

conversation so far that there

is a real political issue in how

the NHS is being reported,

given the government

and the opposition are saying very

different things about

the funding going into the NHS

and how it is being spent.

How much of a challenge

is that reporting it?

It is a great challenge

because the flow of funding

is very complicated.

Yes, the government can say

they have put more money

into the NHS and others can say,

including Labour,

that it's not enough.

And that's of course, in some sense,

is a value judgment.

But there is an increasing view

across different parts

of the NHS and Royal colleges,

trade unions and think tanks, saying

that in England and also the UK,

spending is lagging behind what it

might be as a share

of national income.

So getting that balance right

and also highlighting the need

for the NHS to be efficient and how

it can save money is always quite

a difficult thing to get right.

But, there is now an increasing

debate about the need

for a cross-party view on this,

involving everyone across society,

how do they want the NHS to be

funded and social care?

Where is the money going to come

from, does it need more tax?

On this, of course,

the 70th year of the NHS.

What is interesting,

is we started off talking

about viewers' concern that the BBC

is being too negative,

but it has also been striking

that the BBC's logo for this story

is NHS winter.

Whereas in the past it has been NHS

crisis, which the BBC

also got criticised for.

Some might say, is the BBC being too

shy of being as hard as it needs

to be on this story?

We have been very careful

in our reporting not to use the word

crisis and not to brand it

as a crisis.

It is for others to

make that assertion.

Many are, many doctors

as well as politicians are saying

it is an NHS crisis.

I think the best we can

do is state the facts,

state what is really

going on in hospitals, GP surgeries,

community health, mental health,

right around the UK,

state it as it is, make the debate

about funding as clear as possible

and then leave others to judge how

serious it is.

I think no one can be in any doubt,

we have laid out there

for viewers and listeners,

there is a very serious state

of affairs in some parts of the NHS,

currently in January with flu

being a major problem.

We need to judge things

in the months ahead as to where

things go from here.

Hugh Pym, thank you so much.

Finally, in advance

of President Macron's visit

to the UK on Thursday,

MP Tom Tugendhat was speaking

to Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt

about Anglo-French relations

when he found himself struggling

with a croaky throat.

It is true that our relationship

is incredibly close and incredibly

important for both of us.

And we now have both got

a responsibility to make it

work on every level.

Thank you very much

for your time this morning.

We will allow you to get a glass

of water to help your throat.

Thank you for your

time this morning.

Thank you.

Always annoying when those

frogs appear at the most

inopportune times.

It's 7:21am...

Given that Frenchman,

President Macron, had just

been under discussion,

was that reference to a frog,

a subtle, if rather

questionable joke, or just

an unfortunate coincidence?

A Twitter user called

The Mystery Man bought the former,

describing it as an amazing joke

and although some were less

impressed, a BBC spokesman said,

our guest appeared to be struggling

with a croaky voice and Naga

was simply referring to that.

Thank you very much

for all your comments this week.

We welcome all your opinions on BBC

News and current affairs,

so do please get in touch with us...

That's all from us, we will be back

to hear your thoughts about BBC News

coverage again next week.

Goodbye.