18/12/2013 BBC Points West


18/12/2013

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let-up. Thank you. That is all from the BBC News at Six. Goodbye. Now

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Welcome to BBC Points West with David Garmston and Alex Lovell. Our

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main story tonight: the hospitals preparing for a tough winter.

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Hundreds of extra staff are taken off as the wards gear up for the

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cold weather, but will it be enough? We've got the right type of

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facilities and equipment to care for the demand that is being placed on

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A services in Somerset. But while they're getting ready one

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of the West's newest hospitals has been slammed for being dirty.

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Also in tonight's programme: chaos on the flyover ` first it swung open

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and wouldn't close ` now its closed but wont swing open.

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A bravery award for this 92`year`old who dragged a man from a

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smoke`filled building using her shopping trolley for support.

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I don't believe in celebrating it. It's something I wanted to do and I

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did it and it's over and forgotten. And I'd do it again tomorrow.

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And The Bristol football coach taking the top job in English

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women's football. Good evening.

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Hospitals across the West say they've recruited hundreds of extra

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staff and invested thousands of pounds to cope with the demands of

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winter. Doctors and nurses across the West have spent months planning

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how to handle the increased numbers of patients during the coldest part

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of the year. Many have also taken on new staff to cope.

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At the Great Western Hospital in Swindon there's now 82 more nurses

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and midwives than a year ago. Gloucester and Cheltenham have 00

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extra staff and 65 extra beds. And tomorrow Somerset's biggest hospital

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will open a ?3 million extension to its A department to help treat

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more emergencies. More people die in the winter than

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in the summer. In fact, in the South West, they were 3100 excess deaths

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last winter. That is why hospitals across the West are gearing up for

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these winter pressures. This patient was rushed in for

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emergency treatment because of abnormal heart rhythms. His

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condition is very serious so he is being seen quickly. Most patients in

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Taunton have to wait, however. That is because there are not enough

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doctors. This man in charge of the department is lobbying the

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Government to improve the situation. He is delighted that the Department

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of Health have agreed to recruit an extra 100 doctors for emergency

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medicine in England each year. Your Mac this will start to turn the

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whole ship around. Once we start to increase

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recruitment and reduce the ratio of patients to doctors we then allowed

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doctors to practice medicine to the very best of their ability.

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But it is not just about more doctors, it is about freeing up

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beds. The real blockage in the emergency medicine system is to do

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with getting patients out of here into general wards. At the moment,

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around 85% of hospital beds are full. The College of emergency

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medicine would like to see that figure more like 90%. That is why

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the hospital's bosses trying to push through weekend working for doctors

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and nurses in order to free up more beds. That is expensive, to get

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doctors in at weekends. You don t have extra money for that. How will

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you achieve that? We will look at how to get people working more

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flexibly, so there are perhaps other times in the week when we don't need

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quite so many doctors and therapists so we can spread them out. We will

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also be working with our commissioners to look at what is the

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cost over and above that and how do we afford that as a health system.

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At the weekend, 11 ambulances were queueing outside Thompson A

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because there weren't enough beds. It may be difficult to achieve

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this, but the hospital believes that radical change is possible.

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Despite taking on more staff, today the health inspector criticised

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Swindon's Great Western Hospital for having too few nurses and being

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dirty. However, the Care Quality Commission did say it's meeting

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standards when it come to the care, welfare and respect of its patients.

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In a report out today, the Care Quality Commission says cleanliness

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and staffing levels at this hospital are not up to scratch. They visited

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after concerns were raised that standards were not being met.

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Inspectors said on some wards they found "unacceptable levels of dust

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underneath patient beds" alongside items like tissues and protective

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gloves. Some commodes were stained underneath, which suggested to them

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that cleaning had not been thorough. This came as a surprise to the

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hospital's chief nurse. I would have expected that we would

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know for ourselves if we had dirty words order to toilets. The biggest

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disappointment is that we did not know that.

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Today, Corillion, the company contracted to clean the hospital,

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said it's already taken steps to improve standards. The CQC also said

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on some wards there were not enough nurses to provide the care and

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support patients needed. The hospital blames a national shortage

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and said that's why it began recruiting in April. I think there

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has been a lot of media interest over the last while in hospitals and

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so I do not think that this hospital is unique in having some issues with

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regard to staffing. Despite the criticisms, the health

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regulator was also keen to point out that most patients were given the

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care they needed and were treated with respect. The way staff

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communicated with patients was also praised. The hospital says it's

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already put a plan in place to address all the shortcomings. It

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must submit it to the CQC by Christmas Eve.

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Joining us now is our Health Correspondent, Matthew Hill. Most

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people will be quite concerned that the hospital seems dirty. The

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hospital does not imply the cleaners, that is a separate

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company. They have a contract for the next 20 years. Relations have

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not been good with the workers. A year ago there was a long`term

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dispute over winter working. Hopefully that has sorted now. But

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it is surprising in this day and age, particularly any modern

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hospital. How well prepared are our hospitals

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to cope this winter, particularly A? Much more than in the past

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Indian doctors are going to be allowed to come in which should

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help. Thank you very much. If you want to take a look at how

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well the hospital in your area is doing, then there's a new website

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you can go on. If you want to take a look at how well the hospital in

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your area is doing, then there's a new website where you can get

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information. Go to england.nhs.uk/statistics and click

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on "winter pressures daily situations reports".

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If you're worried about the winter weather, then it's not a good night

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to be travelling, as the Highways Agency is predicting high winds and

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heavy rain. It could disrupt roads and bridges

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into the night. Sally Challoner is alongside the old Severn Bridge for

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us now. What's it like there? It is lovely! Now, actually as you can

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probably tell, it is very windy It is raining quite hard and is very

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cold. The Highways Agency reckon the gusts will get up to 625 mph. That

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is busily quite dangerous. Already on the old Severn Bridge we have

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winds of 40 mph. They may close that to high sided vehicles and

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motorbikes later on as the winds get higher. You can find out the latest

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from the highways agency at their website. As for flooding, no severe

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flood warnings in place, but lots of flood alerts. That means be

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prepared. Lots of flood alerts all the way up through Gloucestershire

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and the river even in Bristol, along the river to other areas also.

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It will get worse as the night goes on. She has demonstrated the bad

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weather well! A number of flood alerts are already

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in place too. So how bad is the weather going to be tonight?

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A cold front here as you can see on the radar sequence. It will move

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steadily eastwards into this evening. You can see some heavy and

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torrential downpours are still on their way. It should be away by nine

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at ten o'clock this evening. If you were trying to get home on

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four wheels last night through Bristol you've probably not fully

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recovered from the trauma yet. Gridlock ` lock down ` snarl up All

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because a vital swing bridge got stuck. So, what about rush hour

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today? Is everything running smoothly tonight? It is going to

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plan in the Cumberland basin, you can see the traffic heading home on

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this bridge behind me. It is heading out of places like Portishead,

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Weston`super`Mare. This is a really important bridge in Bristol. It can

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take 20,000 vehicles during a busy traffic period.

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Some have called them Bristol's worst traffic jams for twenty years.

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Miles of gridlock. Crawling along so slowly that in places it took an

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hour to travel just one mile. This was the problem: the swing bridge in

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the Cumberland basin had swung open, then became stuck at 4.30pm

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yesterday. How did the drivers look? They looked angry. They were getting

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very frustrated and trying to get home. It took a lot longer than the

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plan. Engineers did manage to close the bridge by this morning's rush

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hour, but they had to do it manually, physically cranking a

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handle. That is no mean feat, when you consider this bridge weighs 800

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tonnes. Underneath, the fault`finding

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continued today. There's damage to the concrete

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supports at one end of the bridge. A sign the bridge may have swung

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without being in the raised position. That's caused mechanical

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damage to add to an electrical failure on this 1960s bridge.

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We put an enormous amount of resource into looking for the source

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of this fault and getting it fixed. It will take a couple of days. In

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the meantime, the bridge will be open to traffic and we will not

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attempt any more swings until we resolve what the fault is. So, the

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bridge is stuck shut. No problem for motorists, but yachts and tall ships

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can't get in or out of Bristol until the bridge is fixed. Just to

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reiterate: The council say the bridge should be fixed in the next

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couple of days. You would not want to be heading out to sea in this

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weather. If you're trying to get in, as a port of refuge, there are

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alternative marinas further up. Smoking is to be banned at all

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children's play areas in one Somerset town as the local council

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gets tough on the tobacco industry. And Taunton Deane Council says if

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the pilot project is successful it may extend the ban to all public

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areas its responsible for, including parks and playing fields.

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Pro`smoking groups say it's an abuse of power.

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Smoking by a children's play area in Taunton. But within a matter of

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weeks it will be banned by order of the council, who own the land. If we

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are serious about addressing the smoking related illness problem

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then we have to take steps such as this.

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Taunton Deane has become the first District Council in the country to

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sign up to an anti`smoking charter called the Local Government

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Declaration on Tobacco Control, which commits councils to take

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action to protect its residents from the harm caused by smoking, to

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support national action on tobacco and to generally reduce smoking in

:14:35.:14:36.

the population. But the idea of a ban on smoking

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outdoors, on health grounds, as drawn condemnation from pro`smoking

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organisations and those who see this as brutal over`regulation. There are

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no public health benefits to banning smoking outdoors because there is no

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risk of passive smoking outdoors. This is the bluntest form of policy.

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If smokers do not like this move, they may not like what will be

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around the corner. The council says that if the smoking ban is

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successful in this play area, they may extend it So how will that be

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received on the streets? To public parks and play areas. I

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would not mind. I would not mind, even outdoors. I want to quit! I am

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not a smoker, but they must have somewhere and I think that is going

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to fire. Taunton Deane Council says signs

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will go up in play areas very soon and they will impose the ban

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vigorously. There was some good news in the job

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market today ` unemployment has fallen in the west country, for the

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ninth month in a row. Here's the total: just under 37,500 people were

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out of work and claiming benefit in our region and that's the lowest it

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has been for five years. And in one industry companies are now finding

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it difficult to recruit skilled workers.

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They are the hottest gifts this Christmas. Shiny new tablet

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computers have gone from a luxury to a must have any couple of years The

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Power chips that power them are designed right here in the West

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Country. Employers see it is harder than ever to find recruits. They are

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targeting the next generation. Your Mac they are building robots,

:16:55.:17:02.

learning how to programme them. The teaching tomorrow's programmers

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the language of IT. We are learning how to work these programmes. It is

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a simple ?25 processor which allows youngsters to play at programming.

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The aim is to show young people that computers do not always come

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giftwrapped. I am not sure that children realise homely job

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opportunities there are. There is a lack of children coming through the

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education system into the computing world.

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Silicone chip design companies employ thousands across the West

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Country. All complain of a shortage of skilled staff. What is being done

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about it? That one teleports him... At a school in Bath, this woman is

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teaching youngsters about a Greek mythology game. For too long, she

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says, IDC classes have taught children to use computers, not to

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programme them. Now, that is changing.

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This is quite different, because they are using the computation

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skills and working through problems and solve what happens if I do this,

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why does this not work? What can I do to change it? That is a very

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different focus from what computer science wars rather than just

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technology. This is part of a new changed

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national curriculum which is hoped will change the view of young people

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for life. The double Olympic champion

:18:57.:18:58.

Charlotte Dujardin has completed a hat`trick of world records by

:18:59.:19:01.

winning the London stage of the dressage World Cup. Charlotte and

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her horse Valegro won individual and team golds at London 2012. And last

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night she became the first Briton to complete the treble at the freestyle

:19:09.:19:22.

event at Olympia last night. It has been an incredible journey. It has

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been an absolute roller`coaster I did not dream of achieving these

:19:26.:19:32.

things. When I think back, I have finally got my last world record, it

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is fantastic. Bristol Rovers take on Crawley Town

:19:43.:19:46.

tonight in their FA Cup second round replay. The two sides drew 0`0 when

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they met at the Memorial Stadium ten days ago. The winners face a trip to

:19:51.:19:53.

Championship side Birmingham City over the first weekend in January.

:19:54.:19:56.

The man who guided Bristol Academy ladies' football team to their best

:19:57.:19:59.

ever finish has been officially unveiled as the new England women's

:20:00.:20:03.

manager. Mark Sampson says he's sad to leave Bristol but excited by his

:20:04.:20:06.

new challenge. Now the club has started the process of replacing

:20:07.:20:08.

him. Mark Sampson is only 31 but his

:20:09.:20:11.

success with Bristol Academy was too good for England to ignore. During

:20:12.:20:18.

five years in charge, they need to FA Cup finals, played in Europe and

:20:19.:20:21.

finished as runners`up in the Super League. Today he admitted he had

:20:22.:20:28.

left the club with a heavy heart. I'm incredibly proud of my time at

:20:29.:20:31.

Bristol and it was difficult to leave and a big decision for me I

:20:32.:20:35.

always felt the only job I would leave Bristol forward be the

:20:36.:20:38.

national job. When it came around, it was such a special opportunity I

:20:39.:20:43.

felt I had to take it and I wanted to take it. I have great memories of

:20:44.:20:47.

Bristol, I worked with a fantastic chairman and some great people who I

:20:48.:20:51.

will know for the rest of my life, we share some special memories. He

:20:52.:20:58.

has already called up three Bristol players for his training camp,

:20:59.:21:02.

including his former captain. She says the Academy squad will stay

:21:03.:21:05.

together to build on the foundations he put in place.

:21:06.:21:11.

He's developed everyone as an individual, and the whole club has

:21:12.:21:14.

come on leaps and bounds since he has been in charge. We're all really

:21:15.:21:19.

upset to see him go, but now we have that platform for someone new to

:21:20.:21:22.

come in. I don't think people need to be too worried as we had a great

:21:23.:21:26.

season last year and we are determined to repeat that and go one

:21:27.:21:29.

better next season. The club's chairman has already had

:21:30.:21:32.

40 applications for the job from all around the world. But replacing a

:21:33.:21:36.

man who achieved so much with so little money won't be easy.

:21:37.:21:39.

Because we are the underdogs of the league and we don't have a

:21:40.:21:42.

Premiership club backing us, we do very much have to have a one`club

:21:43.:21:46.

approach. The manager at Bristol Academy has to look after the

:21:47.:21:49.

under`9s, all the way up through to the first team. We want someone who

:21:50.:21:53.

can brace that one`club feeling and keep that going.

:21:54.:21:55.

With Manchester City now joining the league and other established clubs

:21:56.:21:58.

really starting to invest in the women's teams, this season is geared

:21:59.:22:02.

up to be even more competitive. A big job then for whoever does

:22:03.:22:03.

succeed Mark Sampson here. Finally, a story to inspire us all.

:22:04.:22:15.

A Bristol woman who pulled a 97`year`old man out of his

:22:16.:22:18.

smoke`filled flat has won a bravery award. The firefighters who came to

:22:19.:22:21.

the flats where Jessamine Skuse lives were in no doubt that she

:22:22.:22:24.

averted a disaster. Even more remarkable, this heroine is 92 years

:22:25.:22:31.

old. Waking up to the smell of smoke

:22:32.:22:34.

Jessamine soon realised it wasn t coming from her flat so went out

:22:35.:22:43.

into the hall to investigate. I could see the smoke billowing out

:22:44.:22:47.

from underneath the door. I thought that something must be wrong, so I

:22:48.:22:52.

banged on the door. He was have a sleep in his chair, still bear.

:22:53.:22:55.

Evan, her 97`year`old neighbour was half asleep and Jessamine knew she

:22:56.:22:59.

had to get him out of the deadly smoke`filled room. I got him out and

:23:00.:23:07.

then I got my trolley from here and I took towards the door and I sat in

:23:08.:23:15.

it. It was difficult because he is a big man and over six foot.

:23:16.:23:18.

Wheeling him out onto the landing, Jessamine got Evan some fresher air.

:23:19.:23:22.

But she wasn't finished ` she went back to ring the fire brigade and

:23:23.:23:27.

pressed the alarm. Nothing happened. The fire alarm did not

:23:28.:23:30.

work. Evan Davis was taken to hospital by

:23:31.:23:33.

the emergency services but died due to smoke inhalation. But the

:23:34.:23:36.

firefighters were in no doubt that her heroic deeds that day averted a

:23:37.:23:40.

disaster and her neighbours feel they've had a lucky escape. We slept

:23:41.:23:52.

through all that. We would have been burnt in our beds. She was very

:23:53.:24:00.

brave. We would not have done what she did.

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Jessamine is convinced that her army training came into good use that

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morning. The Fire Service have recommended her for a bravery award

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from the Royal Human Society. She's the oldest person to ever receive it

:24:09.:24:11.

and probably the most reluctant to be called a hero. I could not

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understand it. I said it is only something that you do. You have to

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do these things, however old and ill you are, you have to keep trying.

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Her award is being delivered on Friday, without a party or any fuss.

:24:29.:24:42.

Going back to the weather tonight. All that Massey weather coming in.

:24:43.:24:58.

For tomorrow, we have added competitions on the way. Showers of

:24:59.:25:08.

rain and hail. Some of the showers will turn wintry. The rainfall radar

:25:09.:25:14.

of late shows the cold front moving in from the west with some pretty

:25:15.:25:18.

heavy downpours, torrential in places. Once the rain is out of the

:25:19.:25:39.

way, a dryer night. We may see some snow. For the rest of the evening,

:25:40.:25:48.

the showers will come in from the east. Those high winds will start to

:25:49.:25:55.

abate as we run through the evening. It will remain pretty blustery.

:25:56.:26:01.

Temperatures will get down as low as about 23 Celsius. Many in the East

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may start on a dry and bright note tomorrow. As we get through into the

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afternoon, cloud increases, rain coming in and perhaps some snow over

:26:16.:26:28.

the top of Exmoor. The soil and roared temperatures are fairly high

:26:29.:26:36.

so the snow will probably not stay. We will mostly see hail and rain. It

:26:37.:26:42.

will not be quite as windy tomorrow. Temperatures notably chillier. More

:26:43.:26:56.

rain on the way. Weather warnings for Somerset. Friday and Saturday

:26:57.:27:01.

will see some heavy rain. Let's open today's door on the

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advent calendar. We have a gallery on our Facebook

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page.

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