:00:14. > :00:18.Mid-evening, welcome to BBC Channel Islands. Our top stories tonight:
:00:18. > :00:23.Why a funding crisis means kidney patients may not get a specialist
:00:23. > :00:29.care they need. Plus, losing business, can Guernsey airport
:00:29. > :00:39.afford to turn away private planes? And we look ahead to the top of the
:00:39. > :00:45.
:00:45. > :00:51.table clash that could net Jersey Kidney patients could see their
:00:51. > :00:54.hopes for a dedicated green allows ad Jersey's General Hospital --.
:00:54. > :01:00.The Jersey kidney Patients Association had wanted to employ a
:01:00. > :01:03.nurse to work alongside current hospital staff, but now thanks to
:01:03. > :01:09.an economic downturn the charity does not have the money. What does
:01:09. > :01:14.this mean for patients? For Anna Mary Barlow had a kidney
:01:14. > :01:22.transplant in 2010. Before then she was on dialysis, both at home and
:01:22. > :01:26.at the hospital. It was traumatic, to be honest with you. It depends
:01:26. > :01:32.on the timings. I was very lucky I went on in the mornings and was on
:01:32. > :01:36.for about four hours, but it is time consuming. When you have got a
:01:36. > :01:41.family you are on dialysis, you come off and you come home and you
:01:41. > :01:47.have to carry on, but I could not carry on. I was coming home and
:01:47. > :01:52.feeling sick and tired. This is Annamarie at the renal unit when we
:01:52. > :01:57.visited her. It is staffed by hospital nurses, but the local
:01:57. > :02:01.kidney patients' charity wanted to fund a dedicated nurse to help.
:02:01. > :02:07.Staffing was something you we wanted to help with. Peter Morris
:02:07. > :02:11.told me that will not happen. have not been able to afford it.
:02:11. > :02:16.Currently the money that has come in this year that we have earned,
:02:16. > :02:22.while we have managed to cope, we are about �5,000 short of where we
:02:22. > :02:30.need to be, so we have to dip into our core fund for that money. While
:02:30. > :02:35.we are happy to do this, there is no way we could fund a been a nurse.
:02:35. > :02:40.Testing times, but what about the patients who use the renal unit at
:02:40. > :02:45.Jersey's General Hospital? Are they set to suffer? It is important to
:02:45. > :02:54.reassure everyone we will continue to provide the best possible care
:02:54. > :02:58.for our patients. One way of doing this is that last year we
:02:58. > :03:04.reintroduced community dialysis. For 2012 we plan to offer this for
:03:04. > :03:08.more patience, so more patients can have dialysis in their own home.
:03:08. > :03:13.For Annamarie life is back to normal. She now has a job and is
:03:13. > :03:18.able to get on with her life. But for the Jersey kidney Patients
:03:18. > :03:24.Association they need more money to fund a dedicated nurse. Something
:03:24. > :03:27.they do not have, not the new year they would have wished for.
:03:27. > :03:33.Guernsey police have arrested a man on suspicion of assaulting a police
:03:33. > :03:39.officer. It followed an incident at Salerie car park at 11 o'clock this
:03:39. > :03:43.morning. The officer, who was in police uniform, needed hospital
:03:43. > :03:48.treatment for a facial Enders -- injuries. Police are looking for
:03:48. > :03:52.witnesses. Private aeroplanes are a good
:03:52. > :03:56.source of income for Channel Islands airports, but fears are
:03:56. > :04:01.growing that Guernsey airport may have to turn away a light aircraft
:04:01. > :04:05.losing valuable business whilst work is under way to redevelop its
:04:05. > :04:09.runway. We have seen the plans and the
:04:09. > :04:14.artist's impression and very soon we will see some disruption at
:04:14. > :04:20.Guernsey airport. It is well known the airport will close for several
:04:20. > :04:24.days this year, much to the anger of some airlines. But now some
:04:24. > :04:30.light aircraft users are voicing concerns that even when the airport
:04:30. > :04:35.is open there will not be anywhere for visiting planes to park. There
:04:35. > :04:39.will be times when there will not be any parking available. Once that
:04:39. > :04:44.word gets out that Guernsey is perhaps close to visiting aircraft,
:04:44. > :04:49.it causes a problem. It takes a long time to build up the fat you
:04:49. > :04:55.are open again for business. This is where most light aircraft
:04:55. > :04:59.currently Park. As part as the �80 million redevelopment project it is
:04:59. > :05:03.due to be covered in tarmac which the authorities claim will make it
:05:03. > :05:09.better for all users. There will be disruption throughout various
:05:09. > :05:13.phases, which all airport users are going to suffer. In the end we will
:05:13. > :05:18.end up with far more hardstanding than there is grass parking at the
:05:18. > :05:22.moment. There will be better facilities for everybody. Work is
:05:22. > :05:26.due to start in two months' time and we should be prepared for some
:05:26. > :05:34.disruption, but it is too early to say whether it will put off others
:05:34. > :05:38.from visiting the island. �3 million is being spent upgrading
:05:38. > :05:42.the intensive care unit in Jersey. The first phase of the project
:05:42. > :05:46.opens next week. Hundreds of patients use the facility every
:05:46. > :05:50.year and we have been to see what they can expect.
:05:50. > :05:55.It may look empty now, but soon seriously ill patients will be
:05:55. > :05:59.treated here at Jersey's new intensive care unit. Money has been
:05:59. > :06:04.spent upgrading the facilities to provide more space, more beds and
:06:04. > :06:10.better infection controls. As a heart surgeon Andrew Mitchell
:06:11. > :06:15.will spend most of his time here. Medical care is having the right
:06:15. > :06:19.people and the right staff in place. If we have got the right place now,
:06:19. > :06:24.and if people come in and I looked in a specialist unit like this,
:06:24. > :06:28.they will do better. This is just one of the projects aimed at
:06:28. > :06:32.improving care at the hospital. They will have a new ventilation
:06:32. > :06:37.units and plenty of room for visiting relatives, but it is
:06:37. > :06:43.costing almost �3 million. At a time when you are making cuts, is
:06:43. > :06:48.this a vital thing? Absolutely. You cannot provide acute care on the
:06:48. > :06:52.cheap. You either do it properly, or you do not do it at all. We have
:06:52. > :07:00.been able to maintain good hospital services and we need to continue
:07:00. > :07:08.that investment. I hope we will. The doctors hope the new unit will
:07:08. > :07:11.improve the chances for those treated here.
:07:11. > :07:17.Bus users in Guernsey are being encouraged to come forward with
:07:17. > :07:22.ideas to improve the island's bus service, according to the Bus Users
:07:22. > :07:27.Group. It follows the announcement that CT Plus will take over the
:07:27. > :07:31.operation in April. They are part of their London base social
:07:31. > :07:36.enterprise organisation, which some feel that the bus users will have a
:07:36. > :07:41.greater say. It is a company limited by guarantee, which is an
:07:41. > :07:45.interesting structure. It is not owned by shareholders. It is owned
:07:45. > :07:51.by bus users, I would imagine. Directors of the company will not
:07:51. > :07:57.be paid as I understand. The company will have to follow very
:07:57. > :08:03.closely what the bus users thought they needed. You are watching the
:08:03. > :08:09.BBC in the Channel Islands. Later: How to stop an alien a planned
:08:09. > :08:13.invasion that is threatening rare, local wildlife in Spotlight.
:08:13. > :08:18.Jersey post is to produce the first British stamp adorned with a real
:08:18. > :08:23.diamond. It is to honour the queen's diamond jubilee and it will
:08:23. > :08:29.cost �125. The limited editions stamp show the diamond in the
:08:29. > :08:34.queen's crown and it is expected to sell out quickly. They go on sale
:08:34. > :08:39.on 6th February. In sport hundreds of islanders will
:08:39. > :08:44.be making the trip to the UK tomorrow to watch Jersey Rugby Club
:08:44. > :08:48.take on Ealing Trailfinders. A win would put Jersey at the top of the
:08:48. > :08:53.table. We joined them training to see how they are gearing up for the
:08:53. > :08:57.challenge. There is no room for error. For
:08:57. > :09:02.Jersey Rugby Club this weekend is the biggest match of the season. It
:09:02. > :09:07.could see them go top of the table in National League One. It is not
:09:07. > :09:11.pressure, we know what we do and we have our patterns and our systems
:09:11. > :09:17.in place. We know how we are going to play and how we are going to
:09:17. > :09:21.beat them. On a windy night, Jersey have been putting in final
:09:21. > :09:26.preparations for their clash against Ealing. They have been
:09:26. > :09:32.going over set plays again and again and again. A little bit of
:09:32. > :09:37.fear is good, certainly in young men. Nerves show they are ready to
:09:37. > :09:42.play the game. Temper them and make sure they are calm and collected.
:09:42. > :09:47.They have to be calm and collected because it is an important game.
:09:47. > :09:52.The Ealing Trailfinders are currently top, and Jersey are one
:09:52. > :09:56.point behind. The island side are level with Rosslyn Park could they
:09:56. > :10:00.take on next week. I am not bothered whether we chased the lead
:10:00. > :10:05.or as if we are top of the lead. Performance is the most important
:10:05. > :10:10.thing. If we can continue to perform as we are doing, the league
:10:10. > :10:16.table will look after itself. is a hugely important match and if
:10:16. > :10:22.they win tomorrow it will get them one step closer to promotion.
:10:22. > :10:27.You can listen to highlights of that match from the UK on BBC Radio
:10:27. > :10:31.Jersey. Jersey Rugby Club were training on
:10:31. > :10:36.a chilly January night, but last year was the warmest years since
:10:36. > :10:46.records began in Jersey. With more details about a record-breaking
:10:46. > :10:49.
:10:49. > :10:53.2011 was an unusual year, it was the warmest on record. Most of us
:10:53. > :10:58.remember the year because it was so dry, particularly through the
:10:58. > :11:08.spring and the early part of the summer. Until December when the
:11:08. > :11:08.
:11:08. > :11:17.heavens opened and the rain arrived. The average is 124. This is the
:11:17. > :11:23.Year's rainfall total and we are a little bit down. For a sunshine we
:11:23. > :11:29.did quite well. The sunshine average is just shy of 2000 for the
:11:29. > :11:34.year and we had over 2000. But the rainfall amounts we saw through
:11:34. > :11:42.December helped the reservoir levels. On the left-hand side that
:11:42. > :11:47.was the 1st December level. By 6th January it was 89% fall. That is
:11:48. > :11:52.because of desalination, but also because of some heavy rain. Let's
:11:52. > :11:58.look at the forecast for the next couple of days. Not a great deal of
:11:58. > :12:03.wet weather coming our way. A high pressure in the south is getting
:12:03. > :12:09.closer and closer, which means a lot of dry weather, but also rather
:12:09. > :12:15.cloudy conditions. Tonight perhaps a few bits of drizzle and
:12:15. > :12:18.temperatures no lower than nine or 10, so quite a mild night. Tomorrow
:12:18. > :12:28.it will brighten up for a time with a bit of sunshine coming through
:12:28. > :12:39.
:12:39. > :12:49.every now and then. The winds will The surf will be reasonably messy
:12:49. > :12:49.
:12:49. > :12:52.because of an onshore breeze. Here is the outlet. On Sunday it is
:12:52. > :12:57.rather cloudy, the cloud quick enough to give some light drizzle.
:12:57. > :13:02.By Monday it is beginning to clear and it will feel quite warm as well.