28/03/2014

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:00:08. > :00:19.Good evening. The deaths of five babies are among 11 under

:00:20. > :00:22.investigation at the Northern Health Trust. The Health Minister Edwin

:00:23. > :00:26.Poots has told the Assembly that he's been made aware of 20 cases

:00:27. > :00:29.since 2008 in which the care at a number of the trusts' hospitals fell

:00:30. > :00:31.below standard. Our health correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly

:00:32. > :00:34.reports. It is not the first time the Northern Health Trust has been

:00:35. > :00:38.the focus of criticism. Amid concerns, a team was appointed in

:00:39. > :00:41.2012 to improve its performance. As a result, a number of cases have

:00:42. > :00:45.emerged where the care provided to patients fell below standard. These

:00:46. > :00:48.are described by medical professionals as serious adverse

:00:49. > :01:01.incidents, and today the minister spelt out details. In total, he said

:01:02. > :01:05.20 cases have emerged. 11 of those involved deaths. Five involved

:01:06. > :01:11.Davies born prematurely all this than a month old. -- or less than a

:01:12. > :01:14.month. The Trust is now carrying out a review of procedures surrounding

:01:15. > :01:16.obstetrics and gynaecology. It plans to implement any recommendations.

:01:17. > :01:19.Since the review began, the reporting of serious adverse

:01:20. > :01:29.incidents within the Trust has increased by 50%. This is not good

:01:30. > :01:32.enough. Certainly, we apologise to the families involved, it is clearly

:01:33. > :01:35.a failure on our part. A serious failure? Yes, a serious failure,

:01:36. > :01:39.something we are addressing, we have addressed, and continue to work on

:01:40. > :01:55.to make sure it does not happen again. It is a culture which takes a

:01:56. > :02:01.while to develop. Why wasn't it discovered five years ago? That a

:02:02. > :02:04.series. Indeed. All I can say is that we are now, and have been for

:02:05. > :02:13.the last many months, addressing that, here within the trust, to turn

:02:14. > :02:26.it around. The trust is confident that its review has been thorough.

:02:27. > :02:29.In these 20 cases, it is not yet clear whether any of the 11 deaths

:02:30. > :02:32.were avoidable. But the very possibility is something that any

:02:33. > :02:35.medical professional, or indeed Minister, will take seriously. For

:02:36. > :02:37.the majority of people who attend the Northern Health Trust,

:02:38. > :02:41.undoubtedly, the outcome is successful. But no one is disputing

:02:42. > :02:50.that, for these families, this is a very distressing time. Speaking

:02:51. > :02:53.earlier on BBC Newsline, the Health Minister Edwin Poots explained what

:02:54. > :02:56.led him to bring the issue to the attention of the public. They

:02:57. > :03:10.identified that governments was weak. In 2011, the team identified

:03:11. > :03:14.problems. We put in two senior directors and it was a senior

:03:15. > :03:18.directors who have identified these issues. We have got the matter to my

:03:19. > :03:24.attention and I have bought it to the attention of the public,

:03:25. > :03:27.straightaway. The police found a mortar bomb and a command wire

:03:28. > :03:31.during a major security operation in west Belfast overnight. Homes on the

:03:32. > :03:34.Glen Road were evacuated. Two weeks ago dissident republicans fired a

:03:35. > :03:36.mortar bomb at a police patrol on the Falls Road. Our Home Affairs

:03:37. > :03:39.Correspondent Vincent Kearney reports. An undercover surveillance

:03:40. > :03:43.operation is believed to have led to the seizure of a mortar bomb last

:03:44. > :03:50.night. Police believe they may have foiled an imminent attack. The

:03:51. > :03:54.device was found by police found a man walking in this area of West

:03:55. > :03:57.Belfast at around 11pm last night. They seized a holdall containing a

:03:58. > :04:04.home-made mortar bomb and command wire. A 22-year-old man was arrested

:04:05. > :04:07.and is being questioned in Antrim. Army bomb experts made it safe and

:04:08. > :04:17.it was taken away for forensic examination. There were road

:04:18. > :04:21.closures and several families were moved from their homes. The alert

:04:22. > :04:28.ended short after 8am this morning. People have been too many years of

:04:29. > :04:32.conflict and they must now move on. Whether or not it is an upturn in

:04:33. > :04:38.activity, I just know that people wanted to stop. The seizure comes

:04:39. > :04:42.two weeks after the dissident group fired a mortar at a police vehicle

:04:43. > :04:46.on the Falls Road. A father and three children were badly shaken in

:04:47. > :04:51.debris. The device was also an improvised mortar and was detonated

:04:52. > :04:58.by command wire. However, it is understood the incidents are not

:04:59. > :05:01.being linked. A different dissident republican organisation is believed

:05:02. > :05:13.to have been responsible for the device found here last night. A man

:05:14. > :05:16.has appeared in court charged with the murders of two Catholic workmen

:05:17. > :05:20.in North Belfast 20 years ago. 44-year-old Eamon Fox, a father of

:05:21. > :05:24.six, and 24-year-old Gary Convie, a father of one, were shot dead in the

:05:25. > :05:29.UVF attack in North Queen Street in May 1994. Today at Belfast

:05:30. > :05:32.Magistrates Court, charged with their murders was 48-year-old James

:05:33. > :05:35.Stewart Smyth from Forthriver link in North Belfast. He's also accused

:05:36. > :05:42.of trying to kill another man and having a sub-machine gun, with

:05:43. > :05:51.intent to endanger life. Mr Smyth, who denies the charges, was refused

:05:52. > :05:54.bail. Officials from the Food Standards Agency are investigating a

:05:55. > :05:57.case of suspected milk fraud in south Armagh. The fraud's thought to

:05:58. > :06:00.involve farmers in the Republic avoiding a levy for going over their

:06:01. > :06:04.EU milk quota by smuggling the excess over the border to farmers

:06:05. > :06:07.here, who then sell it on. A milk tanker has been removed from a farm

:06:08. > :06:10.just outside the village of Belleek. Officials have also examined a lorry

:06:11. > :06:13.filled with plastic tanks. Cancer researchers at Queen's University

:06:14. > :06:17.have made a discovery that means women at high risk of breast and

:06:18. > :06:20.ovarian cancer could in the future be treated with drugs, rather than

:06:21. > :06:24.surgery. At present, women who carry a mutation in the Bracca one gene

:06:25. > :06:33.are predisposed to have an 85% risk of breast cancer and 45% of ovarian

:06:34. > :06:39.cancer. Helen Jones reports. Caroline's extended family. Despite

:06:40. > :06:42.the smiles, seven people in this photograph carried the BRCA1 gene.

:06:43. > :06:50.Caroline, her four sisters and one of the two brothers. Her niece Sarah

:06:51. > :06:54.has also tested positive. Their world started to fall apart when one

:06:55. > :06:58.of the sisters was being treated for breast cancer. She had to cope with

:06:59. > :07:02.cancer, then she got the bad news of the gene, then she had to have more

:07:03. > :07:07.surgery to protect yourself from the gene. That included a bilateral

:07:08. > :07:15.mastectomy and the removal of ovaries. She was coping with that,

:07:16. > :07:18.we were supporting her, and we were being tested and, one by one, it was

:07:19. > :07:23.coming back positive, positive, positive. Each of the five sisters

:07:24. > :07:26.opted for surgery, but research being carried out by Queen's

:07:27. > :07:39.University Belfast could provide an alternative. What the research means

:07:40. > :07:42.for women is that we may be able to use drugs we already have available

:07:43. > :07:46.to reduce oestrogen levels and prevent cancer forming. That means

:07:47. > :07:59.we may be able to prevent it with drugs rather than giving surgery.

:08:00. > :08:01.These are reversible drugs, so they could possibly have these drugs for

:08:02. > :08:06.an amount of time to prevent cancer, come off the drugs and have children

:08:07. > :08:12.and go back on to help prevent cancer in the future. The drug will

:08:13. > :08:15.now go on trial. Football: Derry City have drawn 0-0 with St Pat's

:08:16. > :08:18.Athletic at the Brandywell. And in the Irish Premiership, it was Ards

:08:19. > :08:25.two, Warrenpoint Town, two. Time now for the weather with Angie Phillips.

:08:26. > :08:28.Good evening. It is not a very exciting forecast as we spring

:08:29. > :08:33.forward into British summertime. Plenty of cloud, some rain around,

:08:34. > :08:39.and quite breezy. On a positive note it should start to feel milder. We

:08:40. > :08:44.have cloud and showers continuing to edge in on that easterly breeze. You

:08:45. > :08:48.might get a break in the night, but with more showers approaching from

:08:49. > :08:55.the south later, some of those could be heavy with the risk of thunder.

:08:56. > :09:02.Tomorrow, still breezy with spells of rain, particularly in the morning

:09:03. > :09:06.with that band of rain edging its way north. Some of it could be

:09:07. > :09:10.heavy. It drives up for some time in behind. Across the Republic of

:09:11. > :09:15.Ireland, it will dry out with some bright spells during the morning.

:09:16. > :09:19.Then we have rain coming in from the east in the afternoon. Cloudy for

:09:20. > :09:25.eastern Scotland, but for the rest of Scotland, much of England and

:09:26. > :09:29.Wales, dry, sunny, particularly in the south-east, getting up to

:09:30. > :09:34.possibly 20 Celsius. Coming back to Northern Ireland for the afternoon,

:09:35. > :09:36.we might get some bright weather but generally, it will be cloudy with

:09:37. > :09:42.some patchy rain in southern counties. Hi temperatures of 12

:09:43. > :09:46.Celsius. The clocks forward an hour tomorrow, into Mother's Day on

:09:47. > :09:52.Sunday, starting off cloudy with some patchy rain, hopefully dry and

:09:53. > :10:00.brighter in the afternoon, with high temperatures of 13 Celsius. That's

:10:01. > :10:01.it for now. You can keep up to date with News Online and