:00:12. > :00:18.Good evening and welcome to BBC London news with me, Louisa Preston.
:00:19. > :00:20."Out-patients having procedures in corridors and sewage leaking
:00:21. > :00:24.Just some of the damning findings by health watchdog
:00:25. > :00:28.The NHS Trust which runs three hospitals in Watford,
:00:29. > :00:31.St Albans and Hemel Hempstead is being kept in special measures
:00:32. > :00:43.for the third consecutive year, as Sarah Harris reports.
:00:44. > :00:50.After 23 hospital stays, the last one for five weeks, 92-year-old
:00:51. > :00:52.Doris Harrison, being treated for pneumonia, should be a good judge of
:00:53. > :00:59.how Watford General could be improved. It's hard for them.
:01:00. > :01:07.There's not enough nurses. I don't think areas. They could do with
:01:08. > :01:10.another one on the ward. But inspectors didn't criticised
:01:11. > :01:17.staffing levels at the trust that includes Watford, St Albans and
:01:18. > :01:20.Hamill hospitals. Their report said outpatients provisions dignity were
:01:21. > :01:23.compromised, the emergency department did not treat patients
:01:24. > :01:29.quickly enough, and the temperature on some awards was too high to store
:01:30. > :01:33.medicines. There were issues with the environment, where it's very
:01:34. > :01:38.cramped. In outpatients they were patients having procedures in
:01:39. > :01:44.corridors. Staff had almost become normalised. It's not appropriate to
:01:45. > :01:47.be having care in the corridor. Despite improvements, the trust will
:01:48. > :01:52.remain in special measures with nurses and doctors under pressure.
:01:53. > :01:57.But managers insist they are heading in the right direction. As far as
:01:58. > :02:05.patients are concerned the trust is still failing. I think we're on a
:02:06. > :02:10.journey, as CQ CTC have said, we have a long way to come, and we've
:02:11. > :02:15.come a long way. We are focused on our quality improvement journey.
:02:16. > :02:17.There are substantial improvement in maternity and critical care,
:02:18. > :02:24.improvement in medicine and surgery across all sites. The efforts being
:02:25. > :02:28.made are appreciated by Yvonne Stanley from Abbots Langley, who
:02:29. > :02:31.gave birth to both her children at Watford general and despite
:02:32. > :02:36.challenges believes the community should get behind the health
:02:37. > :02:40.service. I think it's an awful shame and there has been identified room
:02:41. > :02:43.for improvement. On the whole my experience has been generally
:02:44. > :02:49.positive latterly, had a bad experience with my mum a few years
:02:50. > :02:53.ago. I can never be more than thankful to Watford General Hospital
:02:54. > :02:59.for saving mine and my daughter's life. Its gratitude shared by Doris,
:03:00. > :03:04.who it's likely will be a patient at Watford general for some time yet.
:03:05. > :03:05.With staff determined to make further improvements, they will
:03:06. > :03:15.remain under scrutiny. Businesses want the Chancellor parts
:03:16. > :03:19.of south-east London and Kent could grind to a standstill if an urgent
:03:20. > :03:23.decision is made on where to build a new Thames crossing. Both the
:03:24. > :03:26.Federation of Small Businesses and London Chamber of Commerce say the
:03:27. > :03:30.government needs to make good on its promise for another bridge or tunnel
:03:31. > :03:37.Wood risk damaging the region's economy. Simon Jones reports.
:03:38. > :03:40.A crossing that can't cope, causing gridlock on the region's roads.
:03:41. > :03:43.That's why the Federation of Small Businesses
:03:44. > :03:44.says in addition to the
:03:45. > :03:46.Dartford Crossing a new lower Thames crossing is needed now.
:03:47. > :03:48.There is a real problem with traffic congestion,
:03:49. > :03:51.particularly here in Kent, but not just cant, London,
:03:52. > :03:54.That will only be solved if we have another lower Thames
:03:55. > :04:00.So we do need Chancellor Sir Philip Hammond to seize the day,
:04:01. > :04:02.really, in the budget, and take some action on this.
:04:03. > :04:05.In January last year, highways and then
:04:06. > :04:07.multi-billion pound tunnel east of Gravesend as its preferred
:04:08. > :04:14.option, rather than another crossing at Dartford.
:04:15. > :04:16.A public consultation attracted 47,000
:04:17. > :04:35.responses, but still no final decision from the government.
:04:36. > :04:40.They say the Dartford Crossing is creaking under the pressure of 15
:04:41. > :04:44.million crossings year, threatening to bring the south-east to a
:04:45. > :04:45.standstill. The government's promised to come to a decision in
:04:46. > :04:51.due course is not good enough. The government's promise
:04:52. > :04:53.to make a decision in due course is simply not good enough.
:04:54. > :04:56.Many in Dartford agree. I think it's disgusting
:04:57. > :04:58.that they've never made How much do you think
:04:59. > :05:01.the new crossing is needed? No one wants it on their doorstep
:05:02. > :05:06.but it's definitely needed. As soon as you get
:05:07. > :05:10.a snarl on the M25, an accident, that's it,
:05:11. > :05:12.snags all the way back for hours and people
:05:13. > :05:13.in Dartford are tailed back
:05:14. > :05:15.for hours and hours. There have been protests
:05:16. > :05:17.against the possible site near The Department for Transport
:05:18. > :05:20.said today it recognises the need for a new crossing,
:05:21. > :05:23.but said, again, a decision would be I'm optimistic we will actually
:05:24. > :05:27.get a decision this It's important we get the right
:05:28. > :05:30.decision that will give As soon as we get that
:05:31. > :05:34.decision of course we will All eyes will now be
:05:35. > :05:37.on the Chancellor Tonight one of Londons oldest
:05:38. > :05:41.football clubs is facing Leyton Orient has been served
:05:42. > :05:45.with a winding up order It's left fans anxious
:05:46. > :05:57.over the club's future. This Italian businessman bought
:05:58. > :06:04.Leyton Orient from Barry Hearn in the sum of 2014. Hearn said he was
:06:05. > :06:09.convinced he could take Orient places. Nobody envisaged it meant
:06:10. > :06:12.possibly out of the football league and out of business. Today Orient
:06:13. > :06:17.was served with a winding up order by HM Revenue and Customs, and are
:06:18. > :06:21.due in the High Court on March 20 to settle their debts with the taxman.
:06:22. > :06:28.He's barely spoken to the media since he took charge. He repeated a
:06:29. > :06:32.request from anyone for the club to be interviewed has been turned down.
:06:33. > :06:36.Leyton Orient won't make any comment. The fans in one of the
:06:37. > :06:41.oldest football clubs in London, for them it is worrying times. It
:06:42. > :06:47.gradually got more and more ridiculous. We know the club is in
:06:48. > :06:51.some debt, we know the chairman is trying to sell it now. At the same
:06:52. > :06:56.time we're not hearing directly from the chairman as to what the state of
:06:57. > :07:00.play is. Last year Albania's government abandon its attempt to
:07:01. > :07:06.have him extradited to face charges of money-laundering. He denied
:07:07. > :07:10.charges with his lawyers saying they were politically motivated. There
:07:11. > :07:15.has been to a mile on the pitch, employing nine managers in his nine
:07:16. > :07:19.years in charge. The team in serious danger of relegation out of the
:07:20. > :07:22.football league. Right now the fans are less concerned with what level
:07:23. > :07:24.their team plays at them whether they have a team at all to support.
:07:25. > :07:33.Chris Lake, BBC London News. This baby girl from Surrey is one of
:07:34. > :07:37.the youngest patients in the world to survive major abdominal surgery.
:07:38. > :07:42.Abigail Peters was born four months early weighing just over a pound.
:07:43. > :07:45.Doctors in tooting performed an operation on her at six days old,
:07:46. > :07:48.now her parents have finally been able to take home. They have been
:07:49. > :07:52.speaking to our correspondent. She was born prematurely at 23
:07:53. > :07:55.weeks, four months before her due date, weighing just more
:07:56. > :07:57.than a 1lb of sugar, Abigail's survival
:07:58. > :07:58.was At six days old, doctors
:07:59. > :08:01.discovered she'd badly ruptured her intestine,
:08:02. > :08:04.and her parents were told she needed It was suddenly, oh, no,
:08:05. > :08:10.she has to go through this. We knew she wouldn't
:08:11. > :08:15.survive, if she didn't have We knew that she might not survive
:08:16. > :08:23.surgery, but she definitely You know, we signed
:08:24. > :08:27.on the dottel line and we waited in this room,
:08:28. > :08:30.funnily enough, for three hours. St George's Hospital in Tooting,
:08:31. > :08:32.Is one of the leading places for paediatric
:08:33. > :08:34.surgery in the country. But surgical staff had never
:08:35. > :08:37.operated before on a baby who was As I said, her skin and her tissues
:08:38. > :08:43.were very jelly-like. If you hold them, she
:08:44. > :08:45.would start to bleed. If you can imagine, a baby that
:08:46. > :08:48.size has very little circulating blood volume,
:08:49. > :08:50.so you can't afford any blood loss. It was a great team of about 10
:08:51. > :08:53.people Focussing their The operation was
:08:54. > :08:59.a success and after four months recovering in
:09:00. > :09:01.the neonatal ward, her parents have For her to be so small
:09:02. > :09:14.and to go through all that and survive, she's an absolute
:09:15. > :09:15.miracle. She's been doing brilliantly
:09:16. > :09:18.and we've been to treat She's not on any monitors
:09:19. > :09:23.or oxygen or anything, but you still, kind of,
:09:24. > :09:25.wondering all the time, is she still breathing,
:09:26. > :09:27.is she breathing? She's had a lot of
:09:28. > :09:32.hurdles in her short life so far but she seems to have
:09:33. > :09:45.passed with flying colours. For the hospital, this
:09:46. > :09:47.may be a first, but for Abigail's parents are just delighted
:09:48. > :09:59.that every day she is getting A miracle baby. That's it for now
:10:00. > :10:01.for me, I'll hand you to Tomasz Schafernaker to find out what the
:10:02. > :10:09.weather is up to. The weather will rattle our windows
:10:10. > :10:14.a little bit tonight. Wind coming our way. Some rain, too. Not an
:10:15. > :10:19.awful lot but the wind will make its presence felt through tonight. Hence
:10:20. > :10:25.some of the winds left over in the morning will be breezy. Here come
:10:26. > :10:30.the arrows from the West. A few spots of rain, it really is just
:10:31. > :10:36.wind rather than rain. It'll be nippy. 2-4 C. Tomorrow very breezy
:10:37. > :10:41.in the morning. The rain to the north of us. We'll get away with a
:10:42. > :10:46.dry morning, dry afternoon, temperatures will be around that 10
:10:47. > :10:52.degrees mark. 11 in the cities. Not a bad day for most. Come Friday,
:10:53. > :10:56.what's this about? Rain coming in from morning onwards. It won't last
:10:57. > :10:57.very long, it should clear by the afternoon. Let's look at the
:10:58. > :11:04.outlook. A whole load outlook. A whole load of 11 is. What
:11:05. > :11:10.does that mean? Maybe John Hammond will tell you.
:11:11. > :11:15.We're in for a bumpy ride. The weather chopping and changing
:11:16. > :11:19.keeping us on our toes. Rain never too far away from our crystal ball.
:11:20. > :11:22.There has been rain around today across southern areas. This band of
:11:23. > :11:26.wet weather pushing through Wales and the Midlands. A little bit of
:11:27. > :11:31.the white stuff mixed in over the high ground Snowdonia, some snow for
:11:32. > :11:35.an trans-Pennine routes as well. Snow at low levels through the
:11:36. > :11:40.night. Further south the main story is the strength of the wind.
:11:41. > :11:41.Blustery. Gales on the western coast and through the English Channel.