30/12/2016 Look East

A fresh appeal from hospitals in this region

NOT to go to accident and emergency unless your life is in danger.

Many are struggling to cope with the high number of elderly

patients and fear the crisis will get worse over New Year.

There's also been a record demand for ambulances over Christmas.

When a hospital says don't come to accident and emergency

unless your condition is life or limb threatening,

All beds here at the James Paget near Great Yarmouth are full.

at A are having to wait up to five hours to be seen.

Our staff are working relentlessly

under extreme pressure to provide safe patient care.

And are you able to keep up with that?

we have to do the right thing for our patients.

Northampton has no spare beds, Addenbrooke's and Cambridge says

it's treating many older patients and the Lister in Stevenage,

like many hospitals, is extremely busy.

But this year we've seen another factor, Christmas Day

and New Year's Day both fall on Sundays which means

that effectively we have got two bank holiday weekends back to back

and that also has consequences for the wider health care system.

It means more perhaps look to the emergency services

rather than their family doctor when they fall ill.

The region's Ambulance Service has seen

a record-breaking rise in 999 calls this Christmas.

Between 7pm on Christmas Eve and 11pm on Boxing Day,

the service received almost 7000 calls,

up from just over 6000 the previous year.

The reason for the increase isn't clear.

Our crews are working 12-hour days and often

they're going from one patient to another patient to another patient

and then to a hospital and then to another patient and it's

The message from paramedics and hospital

doctors, make your GP, your local pharmacy,

your first point of contact if you fall ill.

Because the next few days will be a huge challenge

for those on health care's emergency front line.

Hundreds of people gathered on the beach at Leigh on Sea last

night to remember two teenagers who died in a car crash on Tuesday.

Paper lanterns and balloons were released and fireworks set off.

Reegan Knight and Liam Phillips were both 17 years old.

Southend United Football Club is also planning a tribute

I feel devastated, one of my close mates is not here any more.

I can't speak to him but I just want to give him

this lovely sendoff so he knows up there that we are looking out

A man's been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence

of drugs after a three car crash in Suffolk this afternoon.

Police were called at around 2.30 to the A-1065 near Barton Mills

and found one of the three vehicles on its side in a hedge.

A woman had to be airlifted to Addenbrooke's hospital

The mother of the missing airman Corrie Mckeague has called

on the police to search more buildings in the area

He went missing three months ago after a night

Nicola Urquhart says an area opposite where he was last seen

But Suffolk Police say "extensive" searches have been made.

The Norwich City manager Alex Neil has refused to comment on a report

in the Sun newspaper that he'll get ?2 million if he's sacked.

With eight defeats in the last ten league matches, he's under pressure.

Very little is going right for Alex Neil just

at the moment and the last thing he needed was to find his name

and that of his chairman Ed Balls on the back page

The paper claims Neil will get ?2 million if he gets sacked.

The man himself wouldn't confirm or deny that.

It's like anything else, I've never sat here and spoke about

players' contracts and different things like that

so I'm not going to sit here and speak about my contract

Despite relegation from the Premier League last year,

But eight defeats in the last ten League matches this season

So, can the Canaries afford to sack him now?

It's much more important that Norwich try and get back to the

Premier League than it is maybe to have to pay a manager

what he's owed, it's as simple as that.

Because it would cost a lot more to stay in

the Championship or even worse, as we've seen with Norwich

in the past, to go down another league than it is

to maybe change the manager and it's a case of how long

Contrary to suggestions in the local media,

I don't bury my head in the sand.

I know exactly where we are, what's gone on.

I know that it's unacceptable and we need to do better.

I can assure you I feel that more than anybody else.

Mainly because I'm a winner, I want to win games,

Brentford tomorrow, Derby at Carrow Road on Monday.

Two wins and the pressure eases but if the results go against

the Canaries, it's unlikely to be a happy New Year for Alex Neil.

Mike Liggins, BBC Look East, at the Norwich City training ground.

In football, two of our teams were in action tonight.

Ipswich beat Bristol City 2-1, a goal in the final minutes taking

Let's see how the weather's looking now.

No snow to talk about. Instead, it is fog and frost we are contending

with. The Met office have got a yellow warning out of the fog until

tomorrow morning. Reduced visibility across the region. It is quite misty

and murky in many parts of the region right now. As we go to

tonight, we might see things improving in the north and the west.

Temperatures not far off freezing but not as cold as last night. A bit

of a great start to New Year's Eve. -- grey. Maybe something a little

bit brighter in the afternoon. Eight or nine Celsius. Warmer than today.

If you are heading out tomorrow evening in the run-up to midnight,

should rather dry and cloudy. Some rain spreading its way southwards

Good evening. Looking ahead to 2017 it looks like we will start off on a

cold note. This weather front will move south in the next day or so

bringing rain with it, but also much colder air following a lull behind.

It will sweep the fog away. It's grey for some places this afternoon.

You could hardly