:00:00. > :00:00.us, you can keep up to date throughout the night with the BBC
:00:00. > :00:07.In Look East tonight. Full after a festive influx.
:00:08. > :00:09.Hospitals in our region at crisis point again.
:00:10. > :00:21.Doctors warn about the dormant illness with no symptoms.
:00:22. > :00:24.and temperatures dropping overnight, bringing a sharp frost. I will have
:00:25. > :00:29.all the River details. Winter pressures are pushing our
:00:30. > :00:32.hospitals to crisis point. Tonight the Lister,
:00:33. > :00:33.Milton Keynes Hospital, Kettering General and Peterborough
:00:34. > :00:35.are all on "black alert", meaning they are operating
:00:36. > :00:42.at full capacity. And Northampton General has more
:00:43. > :00:44.acute patients tonight than at Stuart Ratcliffe reports
:00:45. > :00:48.on what is causing the surge and The NHS in this region
:00:49. > :00:58.is feeling the pressure. We visited three hospitals today,
:00:59. > :01:00.starting in Northampton, where every year for the last
:01:01. > :01:02.decade, its A department
:01:03. > :01:04.has seen an increase We have shades of black
:01:05. > :01:13.almost now, like most In reality, what does it mean
:01:14. > :01:17.if a hospital is on black alert? It means we stop a lot of things
:01:18. > :01:20.that we would normally do and focus all of our attention
:01:21. > :01:23.on the urgent care situation. We might be stopping
:01:24. > :01:25.some routine operations But we are really spending
:01:26. > :01:28.every degree of effort, discretionary effort, particularly,
:01:29. > :01:34.on sorting this situation out. One particular pressure point this
:01:35. > :01:37.year has been the number of patients problems which could have been
:01:38. > :01:41.avoided had the patients sought help from their GP
:01:42. > :01:43.before infection set in. We had a very large number of people
:01:44. > :01:46.who required some mechanical support on ventilation,
:01:47. > :01:49.which is a technique we can use now. But that got to the point
:01:50. > :01:53.where we had to bring in more ventilators, we had to hire them in.
:01:54. > :01:57.We did that and it was great. People had to change
:01:58. > :02:01.what they were doing, in terms of teams supporting and caring
:02:02. > :02:03.for the very sick people. They did a fabulous job,
:02:04. > :02:07.but it was a lot of hard work. At Addenbrooke's in Cambridge,
:02:08. > :02:10.the hospital is not only it is also now trying to cope
:02:11. > :02:15.with an outbreak of flu. There are ten ward
:02:16. > :02:17.areas currently closed because of patients
:02:18. > :02:19.admitted with flu. We are putting restrictions on the
:02:20. > :02:21.number of visitors to the hospital, in order to reduce
:02:22. > :02:23.the risk Of people bringing flu into the hospital
:02:24. > :02:26.and transmitting that to both Over in Peterborough,
:02:27. > :02:33.the hospital is also struggling. It has gone beyond black alert,
:02:34. > :02:35.operating at 107% capacity. The more patients you have,
:02:36. > :02:38.the more difficult it becomes for us all to give the degree of care
:02:39. > :02:41.and attention that we want for each individual patient.
:02:42. > :02:48.So, it is certainly not a position any of us
:02:49. > :02:51.would like to be in. But we and our system
:02:52. > :02:53.partners are working as hard as we can, to try
:02:54. > :02:55.and get the number down and to try and increase the flow
:02:56. > :02:58.through the hospital and, therefore, reducing the pressure
:02:59. > :03:00.on our emergency department. Our ambulance services
:03:01. > :03:02.are also under pressure. Both the East of England and South
:03:03. > :03:05.Central seeing a surge in demand. The largest increase has been
:03:06. > :03:09.in the East Midlands. Over the Christmas
:03:10. > :03:11.and New Year period, the number of red calls, that is,
:03:12. > :03:15.potentially life-threatening calls, doubled and, in the first
:03:16. > :03:17.six hours of 2017, the ambulance service received
:03:18. > :03:24.1,153 emergency calls. What ambulance trusts
:03:25. > :03:26.and hospitals fear now is a sharp drop in temperature,
:03:27. > :03:28.which would undoubtedly bring Earlier, I spoke to Dr Adrian Boyle,
:03:29. > :03:40.from the College of Emergency Medicine and a consultant
:03:41. > :03:41.at A at Addenbrooke's, and asked why winter pressures this
:03:42. > :03:46.year are so bad. This situation has been
:03:47. > :03:49.building for a long time. We simply do not have enough beds
:03:50. > :03:52.and we are seeing real problems within social care,
:03:53. > :03:56.which means that outr Part of the reason for that is
:03:57. > :04:01.that we just cannot get people The advice to patients can be
:04:02. > :04:05.confusing, because you sometimes get told to stay away
:04:06. > :04:08.from A, but when you phone 101, you are often instructed
:04:09. > :04:10.to go to A Do patients receive
:04:11. > :04:11.a clear enough picture? These diversionary strategies, such
:04:12. > :04:15.as do not go to A, do not work. This is not really about people
:04:16. > :04:22.who should or should not be going to A,
:04:23. > :04:24.but is actually about people There is a big
:04:25. > :04:28.difference between that. WHat about the longer term?
:04:29. > :04:30.In 12 months' time, we do not want to be back
:04:31. > :04:33.in this situation again. Is it just a question of resources,
:04:34. > :04:36.to build more wards? The UK just does not have
:04:37. > :04:38.enough hospital beds. We actually have the least
:04:39. > :04:40.number of beds, per head of population, than any country
:04:41. > :04:46.in Europe, except Sweden. And in Sweden, social
:04:47. > :04:48.care is much better. We need more hospital beds
:04:49. > :04:52.and we also need better social care, so that we can use our
:04:53. > :04:56.expensive hospital beds sensibly. How can that happen?
:04:57. > :04:58.We keep hearing that the health services are having to make big
:04:59. > :05:01.efficiences all the time. You cannot really make
:05:02. > :05:02.us more efficient. We have had all the fat trimmed
:05:03. > :05:06.and now we are at the stage A 38-year-old man is being held
:05:07. > :05:12.by police in Cambridgeshire in connection with a fatal collision
:05:13. > :05:15.which left two men dead. The incident happened
:05:16. > :05:17.in Yaxley near The men, who have not been
:05:18. > :05:19.formally identified, The victims are believed
:05:20. > :05:23.to be in their late Officers searching for the driver
:05:24. > :05:27.of an abandoned BMW arrested a man It has been revealed that a level
:05:28. > :05:36.crossing in Bedfordshire where a driver died yesterday
:05:37. > :05:38.was due to be replaced The man's car was hit by a train
:05:39. > :05:41.close to Lidlington, near Marston Moretaine,
:05:42. > :05:43.at around ten o'clock British Transport Police
:05:44. > :05:45.are investigating. Network Rail say a consultation has
:05:46. > :05:48.already started to find a suitable The line is due to be upgraded,
:05:49. > :05:52.as part of plans to improve east-west rail links
:05:53. > :05:58.between Bedford and Cambridge. A leading supporter of the Leave
:05:59. > :06:00.campaign in last year's EU referendum has told
:06:01. > :06:02.Look East he is worried Peter Bone, the MP for
:06:03. > :06:05.Wellingborough, says members of the establishment are hoping
:06:06. > :06:08.to delay the process indefinitely. He says he will be pushing
:06:09. > :06:10.the Prime Minister to proceed We know there are certain people
:06:11. > :06:21.in Parliament who have made it clear that they don't accept the result
:06:22. > :06:24.and they want to play the long game. The longer before the exit
:06:25. > :06:27.from the EU, there's more chance of some event occurring
:06:28. > :06:34.which would stop it. Doctors in Peterborough
:06:35. > :06:36.say they are seeing a growing number of patients
:06:37. > :06:38.with "sleeping tuberculosis". Unlike active TB,
:06:39. > :06:40.there are no symptoms But health chiefs are keen
:06:41. > :06:44.to ensure the bug does not develop - or "wake up".
:06:45. > :06:52.Mousumi Bakshi reports. It is an airborne infection
:06:53. > :06:54.that affects the lungs. Tuberculosis was a big
:06:55. > :06:56.killer in this country Fast-forward to the 21st century
:06:57. > :07:03.and so-called sleeping tuberculosis As long as we pick it up
:07:04. > :07:09.early, it shouldn't cause At this clinic in Peterborough,
:07:10. > :07:12.patients deemed to be at risk from the latent infection
:07:13. > :07:15.are being invited in for screening. There is a lot of different groups
:07:16. > :07:17.coming to Peterborough, so obviously, as their doctors,
:07:18. > :07:20.we really want to protect them and we also want to protect our
:07:21. > :07:23.other patients, as well. So, I think, finding a disease
:07:24. > :07:26.like latent TB early and treating it helps protect both the patients,
:07:27. > :07:28.but also the rest of The vaccine for TB was phased out
:07:29. > :07:33.a decade ago, but rising levels of migration from high-risk
:07:34. > :07:36.countries has seen health bosses in Cambridgeshire introduce a pilot
:07:37. > :07:41.screening programme. We have got about 12 practices
:07:42. > :07:43.involved across Peterborough and the pilot has been
:07:44. > :07:45.running since May. We have had a fantastic
:07:46. > :07:47.response from our GP teams. They have screened over 250 people
:07:48. > :07:50.and we have now got 30 people in treatment for the latent form
:07:51. > :07:53.of the disease that, otherwise, would not have known
:07:54. > :07:59.that they had it. One of 60 programmes in the country,
:08:00. > :08:03.it has sent in the highest number Data from the region's clinical
:08:04. > :08:06.commissioning groups show that between 2013 and 2015, there were,
:08:07. > :08:09.on average, 26 cases of TB detected in Milton Keynes,
:08:10. > :08:15.42 across Northamptonshire, 63 in Luton, and 85
:08:16. > :08:17.in Cambridgeshire - the highest number in this
:08:18. > :08:24.part of the region. It is estimated that a third
:08:25. > :08:26.of the world's population is infected with latent
:08:27. > :08:29.TB and one in ten goes A century ago, TB was a big
:08:30. > :08:33.problem in this country, but improved housing and sanitation
:08:34. > :08:36.has seen a stark drop in figures. Scientists in this Cambridge
:08:37. > :08:44.laboratory have sequenced the TB genome, looking at drug-resistant
:08:45. > :08:46.bugs, in order to find In the United Kingdom,
:08:47. > :08:54.the rates of tuberculous have declined over the last few years
:08:55. > :08:56.and, I think, last year, there were about 6,000 cases,
:08:57. > :08:59.which was down from about But tuberculosis has never
:09:00. > :09:03.disappeared from the UK and is unlikely to do
:09:04. > :09:05.so in the foreseeable future. While latent TB is not contagious,
:09:06. > :09:08.doctors are urging people who have settled in this country in the past
:09:09. > :09:12.five years to be tested, in order to help eradicate this
:09:13. > :09:23.once-widespread illness. A writer from Cambridge has won
:09:24. > :09:26.a major award for his first novel. Francis Spufford is best-known
:09:27. > :09:28.for reference books But his latest publication,
:09:29. > :09:31.Golden Hill, is his And it has won the Costa Book Award
:09:32. > :09:35.for a debut novel. He told us it had taken him
:09:36. > :09:38.years to finally pluck up I always thought I had
:09:39. > :09:45.an appointment with fiction, Cowardice held be back for years
:09:46. > :09:49.and years and years. It is only now, in my fifties,
:09:50. > :09:52.that I felt that I would not make a total fool of
:09:53. > :09:58.myself if I did it. And that is the late
:09:59. > :10:00.news from Look East. We are back with news updates
:10:01. > :10:02.during BBC Breakfast tomorrow morning from 6.30am,
:10:03. > :10:05.but from me and the team here, goodnight and I will leave
:10:06. > :10:08.you with the weather from Alex. Hello.
:10:09. > :10:09.A cold night is expected for tonight, with clear skies
:10:10. > :10:12.expected across much of the region. There have been one of two showers
:10:13. > :10:14.over northern areas, but they will fade away
:10:15. > :10:17.and we will be left with really Temperatures down to minus 2-3
:10:18. > :10:21.Celsius in many places and perhaps We start the day
:10:22. > :10:24.tomorrow on a cold note. But high pressure is building across
:10:25. > :10:27.the British Isles through the day. Certainly, a frosty
:10:28. > :10:29.start for all of us. Possibly, one of two showers first
:10:30. > :10:32.thing across northern parts, but it is looking essentially
:10:33. > :10:34.like a dry day, with some long spells
:10:35. > :10:35.of wintry sunshine. We have still got a northerly
:10:36. > :10:38.breeze, but a lighter breeze But for some of us, temperatures not
:10:39. > :10:43.getting much above 3-4 Celsius, despite the sunshine.
:10:44. > :10:46.So, certainly a cold feel to things. The national weather coming up,
:10:47. > :10:48.but here is the outlook. Rain pushing in on Friday.
:10:49. > :10:50.We are expecting wet weather later on Friday.
:10:51. > :10:52.A milder air mass coming in for the weekend, so looking
:10:53. > :11:03.milder, with a lot of cloud around. two and turning milder into the
:11:04. > :11:07.weekend.