28/03/2014 East Midlands Today

With your news now for the East Midlands, I'm Maurice Flynn. First

tonight: understaffed, under pressure and now under orders to do

things better. That's the outcome of the first in a series of major

hospital inspections in the East Midlands. Inspectors from the Care

Quality Commission decided the University Hospitals of Leicester

requires improvement. Our Health Correspondent Rob Sissons has more.

Things need to be better. This report very much emphasise as we

have very good staff who want to improve. The trust has had to go

overseas to get more nurses. Alfonso has moved from Spain to work in the

accident and emergency. It is is staffed by a lot of foreign nurses.

In this people are very welcoming. A new group that represents patients

said it will now keep a close eye on things. If I put it this way, it

could be a lot worse. There are quite a lot of positives. We went to

see change and we want to see improvement. We think it is

happening. The trust knows it has to improve. The challenge will be

sustaining it. There are financial pressures on the NHS.

Stephen Dorrell is not only one of Leicestershire's MPs, but also chair

of the parliamentary Health Committee. He told me constituents

are generally supportive of their local hospitals. As always with

acute hospitals in the health service, the vast majority of people

who go into the Leicester general or others have a positive experience

when they get there. But that doesn't excuse failure is of in

particular accident and emergency service that were reported in

December. I'm pleased the CQC has been honest with the public about

what goes on in the Leicester Royal and other hospitals in Leicester.

Also particularly pleased that we are able to see an improving trend.

Is it a good thing that we are hearing bad things? Does it mean the

watchdogs are doing their job? The CQC has been up in front of the

health committee that I'd share on an annual basis since the beginning

of this Parliament. We were very concerned and extremely critical of

the performance of the CQC a few years ago. It is now under new

management and is a much more reliable measure of the quality of

care that has been made statutorily independent by the government, in

order that it can speak truth under power. I think it is a key part of

the system. What about your other constituents, those who might work

in his hospitals? How demoralising must it be? I think what they will

here is what they see in their day`to`day lives, that this... These

are hospitals under pressure. They are hospitals which are addressing

this pressures. Of course, no one likes to work in an organisation

that has been criticised but it is even worse to work in an

organisation that you know is not doing what it should do and just

getting a whitewash treatment in public. That simply undermined that

undermines people 's confidence. New figures reveal parts of the East

Midlands are facing a 25% cut in the number of mental health workers who

treat some of the most vulnerable people. One expert warns it's

putting lives at risk. Both those of the patients and the wider public.

Chris Doidge reports. In Ripley, Jonathan tells me about

his experience of getting help for mental illness. You seem to go in

and they have one key worker. Sorry, that key worker is off. He is on

holiday. So you've got to go through your life story again and again.

It's happening... It has happened this year about three times. Many

other charities have found their funding squeeze. There have been

operational difficulties. You're going to have to reduce the amount

of work that we've been able to do. There have been cuts across the

sector. Local councils have reduced the grant funding and in the NHS,

mental health trusts have had to reduce the number of beds available.

Among those units in trouble in recent years, this one in Leicester.

After several bad reports on the Care Quality Commission, there are

signs of improvement. We've got to focus on the important pieces of

information. What are our patients are saying and what are our staff

saying? Were they recommend these services to their friends and

family? Demographic changes and better awareness mean mental health

is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. In the East Midlands, as in

the UK more widely, the funding for mental health is not keeping pace.

This issue will be debated on the Sunday Politics for the East

Midlands. Join John Hess and Andrew Neil, here

on BBC One from 11.15. Officials have described a case of

fly`tipping near Castle Donington, as the worst they've ever seen. It's

a mountain of waste, seemingly dumped in one. They say it's going

to take a week just to clear it, let alone trace those responsible.

That's your news. I'll leave you now with Anna Church

and your weekend weather. Something dry and warm this weekend,

you are in luck. Our wind is changing direction, ringing in

warmer air. There will be plenty of hazy sunshine. Overnight tight, it

looks like we may get one or two showers into the East but for most

of us, it is a dry night. A fair amount of cloud and maybe a little

bit of missed in places. Staying frost free. We wake up with the

cloud. We start to see that southeasterly wind pushing it away.

It's a breezy day and they will be plenty of hazy sunshine. There will

be a little bit of high cloud around but feeling lovely and warm in that

son with a high of 17 Celsius. It is a similar story on Mothering

Sunday. More in the way of cloud on Sunday but still plenty of

sunshine. Decent temperatures for this time

forward on Saturday night. Now here is Nick Miller with the national

forecast. is Nick Miller with the national

Hello. The clocks go forward this weekend, marking the beginning of

British summertime, BST. It has nothing to do with the weather. As

the clocks changed last year we were coming out of the March freeze.

This year, though, as the clucks change, the weather is warming up.

Not clear blue sky, the sun will be hazy but the thunder storms will be

gone. It will be mainly dry. And the weather is lively out there

this evening. There are bands of rain with hail over western parts of

the UK. A bit of rain for parts of the north

of England and south-west of Scotland. And lots of hill fog into

the Pennines. Mist and fog in the central and eastern areas of

England. It is a slow start in the morning. A lot of cloud around first

thing. Misty in places. Damp on the ground after the overnight rain in

south-west England. Clearing, it may threaten the Isles of Scilly

throughout the weekend,