31/03/2014 East Midlands Today

first look at the papers on the BBC News channel. Now on

Now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Geeta Pendse.

First tonight, all kidney transplants in Leicester have been

dramatically stopped. An urgent review was carried out after it

appeared that medical staff had rejected an above`average number of

kidneys for transplant. Until changes are made to the service,

operations are on hold for at least two weeks. With more, here's our

health correspondent, Rob Sissons. Damon here's waiting for a kidney

transplant but if a donor becomes available in the next couple of

weeks, he may have to go to Nottingham, as those operations here

at the Leicester General are on hold. And the reason is because in

January a review team was drafted in to look at the figures after an

unusually high number of kidneys appear to have been turned down for

transplant by the unit. The review team wants to know why. Kidney

transplants are one of the miracles of modern medicine. They can mean an

end to life on dialysis for patients and dramatically improve their

quality of life. So the big question in Leicester is, have some

opportunities for transplants been missed? The reason we asked the

review team to come into Leicester was that we had received a report

suggesting that more kidneys were being turned down here than in other

centres. But that the reasons for that could be quite complex, and

we've asked the review team to try to give us some information. It is

possible that there might be some other processes that are leading to

that but equally it might be to do with our patient population, and we

might have a different mix to other areas in the country. I guess if

they have to, they have to. It's one of those things, really. The good

news is, if an organ does become available, you could still get the

call... That's right. ..And go to Nottingham. Would you go to

Nottingham? I'd go anywhere! I'm happy to go to Nottingham, yes. The

hospital is now looking at its policies and processes before

restarting surgery, it hopes, in two weeks.

Derbyshire's Chief Fire Officer Sean Frayne has appeared in court for the

first time after being charged with rape. The case has been sent by

magistrates to Derby Crown Court for a hearing on April the 14th. Mr

Frayne, who's 47 and from Etwall near Derby, is currently suspended

from his role. The alleged rape is said to have happened in Etwall

between November 2006 and January 2007.

Two of our big`city railway stations are facing closures over the next

few years as work is carried out to electrify the line. It's part of a

?1.6 billion investment by Network Rail. The news came on the day that

Nottingham, which has already been through the pain of a lengthy

shutdown, showed off its new`look station, as Mike O'Sullivan reports.

Opened by the Midland Railway in 1904 and now restored to its former

glory. The terracotta front of Nottingham railway station has been

given a face`lift, as signalling and track work is completed inside. Now

passengers can use the entrance hall for tickets for the first time since

last summer. It needed doing. Over the years it seems to have gone

downhill. But, yes, very nice. It took a while to notice the

difference but it looks a lot nicer and cleaner. It's nice to see the

enlarged concourse as well. It'll be even better when all the new shops

are in. The station redevelopment's costing ?50 million. It meant the

closure of this station for 37 days last summer, with a fleet of

replacement buses laid on. Things are looking bright and airy here in

the front of Nottingham station as the work nears completion. But

there's a warning that the stations in Derby and Leicester could face

partial closure in the next few years because of electrification.

That work will cost ?1.6 billion in the East Midlands. We're looking to

take the learning and the successes here from Nottingham and do very

much the same thing at Derby and Leicester, really in advance of the

electrification works that'll be coming over the next three to five

years. The council in Nottingham has contributed ?12 million from the

Workplace Parking Levy towards the station work. It wants to see the

whole area redeveloped as a prestigious gateway into the city.

Next, the remarkable story of the two`year`old boy from Leicestershire

who's possibly the youngest person ever to dial 999 for a

life`threatening emergency. Riley rang the number from his home at

Barrow`on`Soar after his mum fell unconscious to the floor, as Sian

Lloyd reports. Nee`naw, nee`naw! Only two years

old, but when Riley's mum collapsed, he knew who to call. It was amazing.

I'm so proud of him, so proud of him. He's absolutely a little super

star, aren't you? He remembered what his mum had taught him, and dialled

999 to save her when she suffered a blood clot. But the emergency

services didn't have much information to go on.

It was enough, though, for the police to trace the call to their

home. There you go, Riley. Aw! Such a brave boy. And today, Riley's

bravery was rewarded with a special certificate. Absolutely a

life`saver. A very important part of the team. So, do you think he might

be joining the Ambulance Service one day? He seems to be pretty on the

ball! Yeah, well, I'd be happy to have him as my crew mate. But for

now, Riley is just a happy two`year`old who can't make out what

all the fuss is about. Wonderful story.

That's your news, so it's goodbye from me, but with your weather now,

here's Kaye. Thank you. We had a lovely start to

the British Summer Time with some gorgeous sunshine through the

weekend. Some more of it to come but we do have rain to come first and we

have seen thundery showers pushing through this evening and there is

more to come over the next two hours. The rain will be quite heavy

and thundery, pushing northwards fairly swiftly through the early

hours of the morning, and then dry up again towards the end of the

night. It will time quite murky with mist and fog forming through the

early hours of the morning. `` it will turn. A very mild night to

come. Dry tomorrow morning with a loss of mist and fog first thing,

but that should win and break and then the cloud will be broken up

through the afternoon as well. `` that should thin. Most of us staying

dry and bright and feeling very warm with light winds and temperatures

peaking at 15 or 16. That's it from us. This is the outlook.

Some rain will clear the atmosphere on Thursday. More information on all

of that. Hello, talk of the day-to-day has been the Saharan

dust. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here is an

explanation for you. Essentially, in the last 24-hour is, there has been

wind from the Saharan desert, you can get an idea of where it has been

coming from, by the motion of the cloud on a satellite picture. Low

pressure. The wind in the atmosphere picking up some of the dust from the

Sahara desert, shunted across western parts of Europe, and all of

it on Sunday night into Monday felt the ground for the some us were

waiting to find some grubby cars, but that's the closest to desert

whether we're going to get, apart from the dust. We've also had other

pollutants in the atmosphere. In London and Manchester, pollution is

high. You can get our environmental summary online. The skies have been

washed out by the rain across western parts of the UK this

evening. Heavy rain across parts of Wales, thunderstorms, and by the

early hours of Tuesday morning, heavy rain transferring to parts of

Northern Ireland, northern England and Scotland, too. To the south,