23/10/2013 BBC Points West

Good evening and welcome to BBC Points West. Our headlines tonight:

a child at risk. An inquiry condemns social workers

who allowed a girl to stay with a foster dad who was a suspected

paedophile. Recognition at last for the Dr Who

blew the whistle on one of the biggest scandals in the NHS. Do some

doctors still see you as a traitor? I am sure some do.

The drunken driver involved in this crash, the victim finds out he had

two previous convictions but still escaped jail.

And I'm a teacher, get me out of here! The school closed for the day

by false widow spiders. Good evening. 18 years on, the Dr

Who blew the whistle on the whistle `` Bristol heart scandal says he is

still considered a traitor by some colleagues. Stephen Bolsin made the

comments after being given a lifetime achievement award by fellow

professionals. He flew back from Australia to accept the honour for

promoting safety. After speaking out about scores of patients dying

unnecessarily from cardiac operations, Dr Bolsin said he was

forced to work abroad. Here's our Health Correspondent, Matthew Hill.

To many, this award has come to late but today at least the highest

professional body for this former pistol in Nice this was united in

recognising his pivotal role in transforming patient safety. The

dramatic scenes outside one of the most high profile GMC hearing is the

country has ever seen. Heart surgeons and their boss struck off

and disciplined for allowing operations on tiny babies in Bristol

to continue, long after it was clear to many were dying. Dr Bolsin was

the anaesthetist who blew the whistle on the scandal. I contacted

my director to let him know I thought this was an inappropriate

operation. And I also alerted the Department of Health to the

possibility that a child was being put at risk in this trust. This

investigation by the BBC in the West was followed by a radical shake`up

for the medical profession. In honour of our children, we ask you

now for one minute 's silence. An independent enquiry called for the

results of independent surgeons `` individual surgeons to be available

to the public. His bravery had a catastrophic effect on his career

with doctors refusing to work for him and his private work dried up.

He was forced to leave to work in Australia. 18 years on from speaking

out, recognition at last for his crucial role. Even after this number

of years, it's wonderful the Royal College of anaesthetists have

selected me to deliver the lecture and also to honour the actions I

took in Bristol. You think things have changed as a result of what you

did? I think they are beginning to change. The rate of change has been

very slow. We've seen other whistle`blowers punished in the same

way I was an essentially having to leave the country. I agree we should

be doing something more about whistle`blowing, it is more about

attitudes and culture of the management of the NHS, and if it

doesn't change, patient safety won't improve, and we will be having this

conversation in ten years time. Do some doctors still see you as a

traitor? I am sure some still do. He may have changed the face of

medicine but what happened to him did nothing to encourage other NHS

whistle`blowers from coming forward. The Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie

says the time has come for a government inquiry into

whistle`blowing and she joins us now from London. Thank you for coming to

the studio. What's your take on this? Are doctors still frightened

of speaking out? Many people are frightened of speaking out.

Doctors, nurses and good managers within the NHS. And Dr Bolsin is

right. There have been some changes, but not enough. We had the

Mid Staffs scandal and since then we've had revelations over the last

decades of people who have been flagging up really quite dramatic

concerns the senior managers and who have been stifled when they've gone

and whistle`blowing, made it public. They found their careers, livelihood

and families have suffered. The most galling thing of all these that many

of the people who presided over the kind of safety risks and regimes of

bullying and putting targets before patient safety, they are still in

their jobs, enjoying very nice salaries, thank you very much. Where

as those that raise these concerns can find themselves jobless years

on, which is a scandal. How do you change the culture? You hold those

people to account. Something I've been very public about is I've a

great concern that Barbara Heikki and is now the deputy at NHS

England. She has been exposed as stifling the concerns of

whistle`blowing Barry Walker. If we are going to talk about

accountability, people who have been shown to stifle concerns of

whistle`blowers, not acting on those concerns all the way along the line,

must be held to account. We must do what the Royal College of

anaesthetists is doing which is celebrating whistle`blowers. If an

organisation wants to stick to patient safety and care, then a

whistle`blower is somebody you want to have on your team.

Whistle`blowers don't think everything is OK. And if people do

realise things are not OK, very few people have the moral backbone to

stand up and put everything at risk in order to do the right thing.

There's whistle`blowers that uncovered things that have gone

wrong very special people in deed we should recognise that. Thank you

very much. A review into how social services in

Bristol left a four`year`old foster child with a suspected paedophile

has criticised the way the council handled the case. The girl was left

with the family for two weeks despite police investigating the

foster father for downloading pictures of child abuse. The review

found there was a failure to act quickly and rigorously and that

social workers were distracted. Will Glennon has more.

It was May last year when Avon and Somerset Police told Bristol's

social services they were investigating a man for downloading

indecent images of children. At the time, a four`year`old girl had been

placed in foster care with the man and his family. But she wasn't

removed until two weeks later once social services had conducted their

own investigation. It's also emerged the girl herself had already

complained about being grabbed by the throat by someone in the house.

A court ordered that the way the whole thing had happened should be

reviewed, and today that review has been published. The key findings say

that child protection procedures were not followed quickly enough

when the girl made her disclosure. Although it says social services did

follow procedures in regard to the indecent images allegations. Despite

a lack of clear risk assessment and safety plan. Professionals were

distracted, investigations lacked urgency and rigorous interrogation.

And the fostering service weren t open and transparent enough when

sharing information. Today, I spoke to the girl's biological parents who

said they'd felt completely left out. To protect the child, the

father's words are spoken by someone else. Things weren't right. Things

were not right. She became very great, she was unhappy, she was

wearing a false smile. `` she became very grey. She wouldn't eat with

them. She would hide behind chairs and was crying her rise up. These

are not things my daughter usually did. Did you ask the council to take

them away? I begged them and they accused me of being awkward. The

review has made a number of recommendations, how procedures

should be tightened, records better kept and lessons learnt. The council

says it's already doing things differently. In a statement today,

its Director of Children's Services said:

The girl's biological parents haven't seen her since March. She is

currently with another foster family. She is one of 720 children

in the city in care. Children that hopefully this report will help get

the best care possible. Britain's most venomous spiders

closed a school in Gloucestershire today. The false widows were first

spotted in the IT block and after sightings elsewhere, the decision

was taken to close the building for the day to fumigate. Our

Gloucestershire reporter Steve Knibbs is in the Forest for us

tonight. Good evening. What do you do when

you get an infestation of Britain's most venomous spider? If you're at

this school, you call in pest control and you lock the doors. All

the pupils and teachers have had a day off while pest control have been

brought in. They've been wandering round with their spray guns

fumigating the building. Some spiders were found in the IT block

yesterday and discovered another parts of the building. We don't know

how many or how well the pest control operation has gone today.

But what do we know about these false widow spiders? They came in ``

to the UK in the late 19th century. Thereby it is as bad as a wasp

sting. To find out more, I went to the leading spider expert. ``

thereby it is as bad. I wouldn't put my hand over it in

case it could buy it, but I would let it crawl all over my hand

easily. David Haig is the spider recorder, with the man you go to an

unusual arachnids appear. He has one of the most infamous false widow is

in his collection. But they are not aggressive. I can handle this

perfectly easily. It doesn't make any attempt to injure or bite me.

What do you make of this outbreak? That is remarkable. I remember the

stuff closing the school because this spider, if it finds a knock or

a pawn in a room, it might well breed and the numbers will build`up.

Personally, I like to know what species it is. It may be the false

widow that this excitement is all about. False widow bites are rare

and as toxic as these sting. However, it means schools been out

because the spiders have moved in. Joining them on site, the men from

pest control who advised the school to close. Despite numerous requests

us, no one from the Academy would do an interview. They sent us a

statement instead. On a warm, bright day, there aren't

many complaining about a day off school. Daniel 's been doing his

research since lessons of being cancelled and he thinks it's been an

overreaction. They don't buy it anyway unless they're scared. So the

spiders aren't actually deadly. This unscheduled holiday is for long

Parents were sent a text this afternoon saying school reopens

tomorrow. Hopefully, spider free. It's been frustrating getting

information out of the school. No interviews from them and despite

repeated calls to the pest control company, we didn't get called back

so we don't know how well the operation has gone but the school is

opening tomorrow. As to whether it was the right decision to close the

school or not, opinion is divided, although it was always better to be

safe than sorry. Yes, divided between the children and adults I'm

sure! I would have been out of there like

a shot, it has to be said. You're watching Wednesday's Points

West with David and Alex. And there's still plenty more to come,

including: Stepping up patrols, police clamp down on magic mushroom

pickers in the Savernake Forest And the Countess of Wessex lends her

support to a project looking at the cause of cleft lips.

A Somerset man who was seriously injured in a crash with a drunk

driver is calling on the courts to pass tougher sentences. Paul Carter

was shocked when he discovered the person responsible for his crash had

two previous drink drive convictions yet he wasn't given a prison

sentence. Our Somerset correspondent Clinton Rogers has this report. My

first rib was broken in two places. A smashed chest bone, broken ribs

and fractured vertebrae. Paul Carter paid a high price for being the

innocent victim of a drink driver. The physical wounds are healing now

but he still needs physiotherapy and counselling. He has an anger, too,

that the man responsible for this, just 28 years old, had twice

previously been caught for drink driving. And for driving while

disqualified. Yet he wasn't send to prison. Instead his sentence was

suspended for two years. And he was banned from driving for 40 months.

He is out there and he can do it again. The likelihood is he

potentially will drive a vehicle even though he has been banned. And

potentially kill someone. The national road safety charity Brake

says courts, be they magistrates or the higher Crown Court, have to get

tougher on repeat offenders. What we are calling for is for judges to

actually use the full range of their sentencing powers. So, there are

high penalties available for drink drivers but we need to make sure

they are used. But the reality is the maximum sentence a drink driver

can receive right now is six months in prison. It doesn't matter if

you've done it once, twice, ten times, that is the maximum the court

can impose. As a driver, Paul finds that unbelievable and unacceptable.

It took him three months to get behind the wheel car again after the

crash a crash which still gives him nightmares. I do have flashbacks.

The main flashback is being trapped in the vehicle.

The police have put on extra patrols in the Savernake Forest in Wiltshire

to discourage people from picking magic mushrooms. Officers say they

are now a Class A drug, ranking them alongside heroin and crack cocaine.

They've already made six arrests. Scott Ellis joined the police on

patrol. You can get flashbacks, back`ups, and they can cause

psychosis. Not an obvious spot for police

patrols. But at this time of year the ancient Savernake Forest is in

some respects a drugs den. This is a magic mushroom, also known as a

liberty cap. Just a tiny nipple on the top and then underneath its

slightly browner. The plant contains psilocybin which, when ingested has

a psychedelic effect. The plant even when picked fresh, is now a

Class A drug. I'm technically in possession of a Class A drug. My

intention will be to destroy it I will I get up and ask for a

destruction. So you can't just know it's down on the floor? No, I will

have to destroy it. The police have cautioned several people in recent

weeks. Most of them unaware freshly picked magic mushrooms are Class A.

The change came in 2005 to prevent shops picking and selling the fresh

mushrooms. These are the last legal plants being sold at Glastonbury,

and at the Ashton Court festival. I've sold mushrooms Saturday and

Sunday. Tomorrow, if I had any stop, and a policeman came and saw

it, I could be arrested. And sent to jail. There's three different sorts.

There's another danger lurking on the forest floor. The sheer variety

of mushrooms. Drug support agencies say it's possible to get the wrong

plant and ingest one that's poisonous. If you're going to

experiment with these strokes, be sure you know what you're pulling

out of the ground. Take somebody with you who isn't going to try the

mushroom so if you get into trouble, there's someone to help.

The police they'll arrest anyone picking magic mushrooms. And, for

the benefit of the forest, they d encourage the wider public not to

pick any plants here at all. First was praised on BBC's Top Gear

programme for switching off its speed cameras. Now Swindon claims

not punishing motorists with parking fines has actually helped boost the

town's fortunes. The news comes on the day the government is urging

other areas to follow suit, after many people said they felt parking

charges were being misused to raise money for councils. Here's Paul

Barltrop. It's a rarer sight in Swindon these

days. Alex is one of just 16 wardens. There used to be three

times as many. He previously worked in London, and says there's quite a

contrast. Swindon is a friendly place to come. For parking, you

can't go wrong in Swindon. The sign outside the nearby multistorey shows

there's been change. Three years ago, prices were reduced for

shoppers to encourage them back into the recession`hit town centre.

Well, it's not too bad because you can get four hours for ?2 in one of

the car parks. Swindon is more reasonably priced than other

places. It encouraged us back into town. Generally we would go into

Gloucester and Cheltenham. It's cost the council ?1 million a year, but

they're pleased with the outcome. It's definitely seen an increase in

footfall, one of the few town centres which has shown a growth in

visit. It's a contrast with places like Bristol where revenue from

parking tripled in five years. That can't be used to fund other council

services, but MPs today warn it can create a bad impression. Well,

parking is needed to manage traffic and stop congestion. But the public

believe that they are having to pay enormous amounts of money to fund

that. And that councils are using that money for other things. We need

Back in Swindon, warden Alex is checking a van. More clarity and

transparency. If he goes back empty handed, the council say, "No

matter." They reckon fewer fines can be better for business.

The University of Bristol is putting together the largest DNA record in

the world of children born with a cleft lip or cleft palate. They re

one of the most common congenital abnormalities, yet little is known

about what causes them. The project, which has received ?11 million in

funding, was today visited by the Countess of Wessex, patron of the

Healing Foundation, which is helping fund the study. Andrew Plant

reports. Ollie Rigg is now a rugby loving

14`year`old. He was born with a cleft lip and a cleft palate which

meant corrective operations for him, and a steep learning curve for mum

Natalie. It was a difficult time. It can follow genetically but it isn't

in our family history, as far as we know. So why he was born with a

cleft lip, we don't know. It would be great to find out. Today, the

Countess of Wessex visited a project at Bristol University which aims to

answer that question. At the laboratories inside, scientists aim

to make the world's largest ever study of the condition. This gene

bank, as it's called, will record not just genetic profiles but social

ones, too, to give parents an idea about causes, best treatments, and

possible future problems. This project aims to collect data on

almost 10,000 people and follow them through their lifetime. It is a

long, long game. Tesco and answer three questions which any mother

will ask if she has a child born with a cleft. She wants to know

what's caused it, what's going to happen to her baby in life, and what

of the treatments. We don't know any of those answers. Clefts affect

1,200 children born in the UK every year, around one in every 700

births. In the future, it could help mums like Natalie navigate the path

through doctors, speech therapists and dentists their children will

need. And making it easier for children like Ollie to get on with

the rugby, and homework, that's really important.

It was left to Cheltenham Town to provide the only highlight in a

disappointing night for our football teams. Bristol Rovers lost to bottom

side Accrington Stanley, Swindon's good run came to an end and the

suffering goes on for Bristol City, as Damian Derrick reports. 21 games

and seven months without a league win, not that Bristol city 's side

need to know that. This was as bad as they got to scoring. Then came

too late goals from Brentford before Bristol city hit back. What they

still remain at the bottom of the table. It is like Groundhog Day We

were dominated in the first half against a more complex side.

Everyone in the club is trying to remain positive but the pressure was

clearly building. You going to fight for this stupid question. I suppose

that's a yes. I don't answer stupid questions. In your career, have you

been... Stupid question. It's a fair question. Have you got any

experience of this. Elsewhere, Swindon's good run came to an end.

Only two, Bristol Rovers went down 2`1 Accrington 's and the despite

going ahead after just five minutes. `` Accrington 's. `` Accrington

Stanley. However, it was a good night for Cheltenham as they beat

Morecambe. Matt Richards put them ahead with this 30`yard free kick.

Terry Gornell then scored pick of the goals with this weaving run It

was left to Byron Harrison to make it 3`0 and three wins in five games

for Cheltenham. Zara Phillips has this afternoon

become godmother to our future king, Prince George. The Gloucestershire

Olympian, who's heavily pregnant, was joined by husband Mike Tindall

at the private ceremony at St James' chapel. The Duchess of Cambridge's

old friend from her Wiltshire school days, Emilia Jardine`Paterson, was

another godparent to the young prince. And here he is with the

proud parents. Just gorgeous! Talking of gorgeous... It was a

rather lovely day, wasn't it? Wasn't it just?

It was a quieter and more predictable spell of weather. At

least for a fair part of tomorrow, the same. It is a chilly start

tomorrow, but it will be a dry day. Then we will start to get a few more

showery outbreaks. Let's whizz through tonight. The skies clear Bob

leaving us a chilly night. Sufficient to keep most fog at bay.

They will be the exception. Temperatures tonight will be chilly

compared to those nights. Tomorrow, then, Bahraini mist and fog, we

should see some sunshine around Some showers down in Dorset. Later

in the afternoon, we will start to have showery outbreaks of rain. The

winds pick`up and that will lead us through a wet and windy phase.

Temperatures tomorrow, 16 or 17 The forecast expectations heading to the

weekend on into Monday, many of you have been tweeting me about this,

and we have to look to the other side of the Atlantic, out into the

Pacific, for they `` for the prediction. Watch this area of the

Atlantic. This loop is a developing wave going in our direction. That

area of pressure, it is starting to take shape on Sunday, which could be

quite an ominous feature. It could explosively develop towards Monday.

Thereafter, the forecast varies Some take a track to the North,

others in France. The jury is out on those developers but we will keep

you in touch. I think you should. Thank you very much. And you can

view the full interview with the Bristol city manager on our Facebook

page, if you'd like to. Well, will I be viewing that? Silly question

Goodbye for now.