:00:00. > :00:10.Good evening, this is BBC Newsline. teams where you are.
:00:11. > :00:14.A 12-year-old boy has been praised for helping to save a brother
:00:15. > :00:17.whose clothes caught fire at their home on Boxing Day.
:00:18. > :00:19.Their father tried to tackle the blaze, which engulfed
:00:20. > :00:22.their family home in Magilligan on the north coast, on Boxing Day.
:00:23. > :00:29.BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson has been to the scene.
:00:30. > :00:32.Five people were trapped in this house when the fire broke out -
:00:33. > :00:37.including two brothers, 12-year-old Ben and 9-year-old Rhys.
:00:38. > :00:46.Today his father explained what happened.
:00:47. > :00:55.His arm caught fire. We tried to get it out, to put it out, but when I
:00:56. > :01:03.looked round and I noticed the actual house was on fire so I said
:01:04. > :01:08.to the eldest son, Ben, get Rhys out while I deal with the fire. It
:01:09. > :01:14.happened in seconds. Then kept saying we need to get up the stairs
:01:15. > :01:19.and out. And then all of us got out onto the flat roof at the back. I
:01:20. > :01:23.was able to climb down and then Ben climbed down. He helped Rhys down as
:01:24. > :01:28.well. It was unbelievable. He's a hero. There were five lives there.
:01:29. > :01:31.Young Rhys suffered third degree burns.
:01:32. > :01:37.He was in intensive care in hospital but his condition has now improved.
:01:38. > :01:40.The Boxing Day fire destroyed the ground floor of the house
:01:41. > :01:50.including the children's Christmas presents.
:01:51. > :01:56.Two back days after the fire there is still the smell of smoke in the
:01:57. > :01:59.air. People in the area are shocked but there is also the recognition
:02:00. > :02:01.that the outcome could have been much worse.
:02:02. > :02:04.A man's been rescued from the sea by lifeboat volunteers in Bangor.
:02:05. > :02:07.He's now in a stable condition in hospital.
:02:08. > :02:09.The alarm was raised by a council worker,
:02:10. > :02:11.who heard faint shouts from the water at about
:02:12. > :02:16.He called the Coastguard, and a lifeboat crew found the man
:02:17. > :02:25.barely conscious about 200 metres off shore in Ballyholme Bay.
:02:26. > :02:35.A colleague of mine drew me towards some shouting coming from the beach.
:02:36. > :02:39.Initially I thought summary had maybe fallen on the beach. When I
:02:40. > :02:45.came onto the beach we discovered somebody in the water. One of our
:02:46. > :02:50.crew entered the water to take hold of him, to make sure he would not
:02:51. > :02:54.disappear from us. We manoeuvred the boat alongside and got him out of
:02:55. > :03:02.the water. He was hypothermia it as he was barely conscious, so getting
:03:03. > :03:04.him out of the water safety is a difficult task because such
:03:05. > :03:06.casualties are at risk of cardiac arrest.
:03:07. > :03:08.Patients and health professionals will be watching closely to see
:03:09. > :03:12.if promised health service reforms begin to take shape in the New Year.
:03:13. > :03:14.Our health correspondent, Marie Louise Connolly, looks back
:03:15. > :03:20.on a year when the Minister said the system was at breaking point.
:03:21. > :03:27.It's been a year of giving, taking and delivering. In January Chris
:03:28. > :03:33.Butcher gave his three rolled daughter one of his kidneys. Belfast
:03:34. > :03:37.man Charles Lumet received a cornea transplant from a stranger. And
:03:38. > :03:46.paramedic Robert Montgomery delivered another baby in his
:03:47. > :03:56.ambulance. Things proceeded very quickly. The baby was born. But 2016
:03:57. > :04:08.has also been dominated by big issues including waiting lists. By
:04:09. > :04:17.November, 2000 -- many people were on a list to go into hospital. Stop
:04:18. > :04:19.this wasting. Fix the dam thing. Once and for all. The health
:04:20. > :04:25.minister admitted things had to change. Some of the waiting times
:04:26. > :04:31.are totally unacceptable and we need drugs to transform how we deliver
:04:32. > :04:36.social care. Step forward this professor who provided a blueprint
:04:37. > :04:42.for reform. The Minister responded with her plan but with no mention of
:04:43. > :04:46.closing hospitals will stop in the meantime some services will be due
:04:47. > :04:49.to struggle. Our service is already broken. We are not providing the
:04:50. > :04:56.service we want to, to our site patients. The health service is all
:04:57. > :04:59.about serving patients. Our investigations revealed many of
:05:00. > :05:02.those with mental health problems and those relying on Apple and
:05:03. > :05:11.service are being let down. The controversial issue of abortion
:05:12. > :05:13.raises on. A woman received a suspended prison sentence after
:05:14. > :05:21.buying drugs online to end her pregnancy. And we are waiting for
:05:22. > :05:29.Eric, the decision that these laws breach abortion rights. Let's end
:05:30. > :05:30.with a reminder that the health service not only improves but saves
:05:31. > :05:33.lives. The big Christmas Pantomime in
:05:34. > :05:36.Londonderry this year is Cinderella. But, as Keiron Tourish
:05:37. > :05:39.reports, the production at the Millennium Theatre is also
:05:40. > :06:00.offering something different It's an afternoon of nostalgia and
:06:01. > :06:03.these performances bring together the cast of the Christmas panto who
:06:04. > :06:10.sing for people living with dementia. Carers bring along their
:06:11. > :06:12.relatives who can spend an hour or two socialising and reminiscing
:06:13. > :06:23.about songs they've grown to love over the years. Just want to make
:06:24. > :06:28.people better for people with dementia. We want to support people
:06:29. > :06:32.with dementia and help them work well with it because that we know
:06:33. > :06:36.they can. Oh, we were dancing to such beautiful music... The
:06:37. > :06:39.performances also pave the way forward is hoped will be a
:06:40. > :06:48.stress-free trip to the pantomime in the theatre it self. It has been
:06:49. > :06:53.proven that people suffering with dementia respond well to music.
:06:54. > :07:01.These sessions allow them to interact with pantomime. It also
:07:02. > :07:04.helps to know what they are going to be seeing where they come into the
:07:05. > :07:09.performance. It can be quite daunting for them. For those living
:07:10. > :07:19.with dementia it has been an enjoyable experience. It meant an
:07:20. > :07:30.awful lot to me. I'd be sitting in, watching the TV. I can't go outside,
:07:31. > :07:35.on my own, you know? They treat you like people. They don't treat you
:07:36. > :07:43.like you're some kind of... They're lovely. For everyone involved it is
:07:44. > :07:48.hoped the project will in crease greater understanding of dementia.
:07:49. > :08:05.Hello it's not been a bad day outdoors and we have another coming
:08:06. > :08:08.up tomorrow. Many of us will avoid any frosty conditions as
:08:09. > :08:12.temperatures stay at four or 5 degrees but in countryside areas it
:08:13. > :08:21.will be cooler. The high pressure remains in control tomorrow and high
:08:22. > :08:28.-- sunny spells will be there. Temperatures may read nine or 10
:08:29. > :08:31.degrees. It will not be sunny all the time, there will be cloud coming
:08:32. > :08:35.and going but it is likely to stay dry for many of us with some good
:08:36. > :08:39.sunny gaps. If you are travelling across the island, not a great deal
:08:40. > :08:43.of difference. Plenty of dry weather and sunshine. It might feel a bit
:08:44. > :08:50.nippy across the south-west and the West Coast with the winds. Tomorrow
:08:51. > :08:54.evening will stay dry and it will likely stay that way for most of
:08:55. > :08:59.tomorrow night. It will be a milder night, too. Temperatures will fall
:09:00. > :09:05.to seven or 8 degrees. Temperatures we normally see by day at this time
:09:06. > :09:09.of year. A milder day come Friday but also unsettled. The cloud will
:09:10. > :09:14.be ringing some patchy light rain or drizzle but some of us will reach 11
:09:15. > :09:19.or 12 degrees. It will stay mild for New Year's Eve but we are expecting
:09:20. > :09:21.rain later on in the day. The timing of that is still uncertain but we
:09:22. > :09:24.will keep an ion things. Our next BBC Newsline bulletin
:09:25. > :09:29.is at 10:40 tonight.