09/09/2014 BBC Points West

The new super hospital at Southmead in Bristol is unable to cope with

growing demand and there is a huge backlog of operations.

Treatment for some cancers, spinal problems, and brain conditions are

Our Health Correspondent Matthew Hill reports.

Kath Williams says she hasn't had a good night's sleep in months.

Paralysed from the chest down, she gets paniful muscle spasms

But she's been waiting since December for spinal surgery

Your legs are just stiff and every now and then they will just

But according to a leaked report, Kathy and patients like her

at Southmead may have a long wait to come.

I've obtained this team briefing by the Trust, which highlights

significant delays for patients undergoing urological operations, as

It says 111 spinal patients were waiting more than 52 weeks,

breaching national standards which will require a longer term plan to

And in urology it says capacity and kit has affected both

The doctor in charge of the hospital is trying to secure more

funding from local commissioners to clear the backlog in Urology.

But the spinal surgery problems may need a national solution.

The difficulty with spinal operations is related to

the specialist work again that we do here at North Bristol Trust,

which can be done by a very small number of centres in the UK.

And there's been increasing referral and demand, as some other centres

have found that they are less able to do the specialist work

So we're working with NHS England and the national teams

There have been other problems with neurological operations.

This theatre that provides MRI scans at the same time, was out

It's partly because of problems in getting the right specifications.

And another highly specialist theatre for patients who need to be

conscious throughout is still out of action

because its door was not lead`lined to protect against radiation.

Of course there were always going to be teething problems with such

The impact of the ten`week closure of the urology theatre may take some

time for patients to clear through the system and they hope to have

lead lining of the doors in the other theatre within weeks.

A trial date has been set in South Africa for the honeymoon

The 34`year`old Bristol businessman has always denied any involvement

in his wife Anni's death in Cape Town in 2010.

It's been reported that Zola Tongo, the taxi driver convicted of Anni's

murder, will be a state witness in the trial.

It's due to start on the 6th October.

A second pilot badger cull has begun in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

Campaigners are patrolling cull zones to try to disrupt

The Government says the killings are an essential part

Protestors say shooting badgers is inhumane and not effective.

It should make encourage more people to use public transport

Bus travel in Bristol could soon look something like this.

Dedicated tracks and lanes away from other traffic.

It's a normal bus, on a new route between South and North Bristol.

Sometimes on roads which already exist, sometimes on new ones.

The proposed M32 bridge and road system would take out this

tree`line that you can see all the way through a woodland copse over

there behind us, over through into a wildflower meadow behind us here.

The actual construction of it, the noise, the pollution from that, it's

With the Bristol scheme already signed off, today it was the turn

of South Gloucestershire Council to get on board, which it did.

And if we stumbled and fell at this last hurdle, then the chances

of getting investment in future is definitely going to be reduced.

Bristol is the European green capital next year.

And yet, quite off`the`cuff, willy`nilly,

It would be quicker to walk from blooming South Bristol over to

Cribbs Causeway than that bus would take.

Brian can put that idea to the test soon enough.

After the council has found a company to run the scheme,

construction could start early next year and the buses could be

It's been a record`breaking day for two of Gloucestershire's cricketers.

Alex Gidman and Gareth Roderick's partnership of 392 runs against

Leicestershire smashed a club record that's stood for 81 years.

Gidman finished the day on 221 not out.

And in football, two of the West's sides were in

Andy Monkhouse scored the only goal of the game as Bristol

But Forest Green Rovers lost to Nuneaton,

Thousands of people will be for good weather tomorrow

because the Tour of Britain cycle race is heading through the west.

I'll say goodnight and leave the forecast with Ian.

If you're after sunshine and dry conditions you will be delighted. A

day very similar in many respects to today. Tonight, indeed, pretty

similar to last night. Clear skies and shallow mist and fog around.

Seven ` eight. That is how things are set up for tomorrow morning. The

mist clearing away readily. Then clear skies through the course of

the morning. Light winds all the way. A tendency to build up fair

weather cloud, particularly up to the east. No threat of rain

whatsoever. Leading to a fine evening. Temperatures today, 21 `

22. We will match that tomorrow. 19`21 quite widely. It will stay

warm to the rest of the week. A tendency to increase the cloud as

the week goes on, but still some sunny spells and dry