20/02/2014 Look North (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)

And that is all from us for this evening. Now on BBC One, it

Figures obtained by the BBC show a growing number of young people with

mental health problems in East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire

are being treated on adult wards ` OR in units outside the region.

Tonight the Government Minister for Care has told Look North that the

situation is "intolerable". Sarah Corker reports.

Back home in Hull, a safe and familiar place for mother and

daughter. But this teenager has suffered severe mental problems. For

four months, she was treated more than 100 miles away in Cheshire.

That distance difficult for the family to cope with. We've changed

their voices to protect their identity. It was absolutely

horrific. The biggest impact was on her mental health. She just needed

her mum. She was frightened, she was alone, she was in a strange place.

She didn't know what was real. Even looking out of the window, nothing

was familiar. She was on the phone crying to me every day. I saw her a

few hours a week, if that. It was really scary because all I wanted

was my mum. It delayed my recovery because I had no`one to talk to. I

was really alone. I wanted my family and friends, and there wasn't

anywhere to go. Since residential care was withdrawn from this unit

last year in Hessle, the closest beds for round`the`clock care have

been in Leeds and York. NHS England says that while every effort is made

to place patients as close to home as possible, there are times when

due to specific needs and the number of beds locally, patients are placed

further afield. In the past two years, nine children and teenagers

with mental health problems were sent out of the East Riding for

care. In the last year, that number's increased to 12. Some

travelling as far afield as Colchester, 194 miles away. And on

four occasions, teenagers aged between 16`18 were admitted to adult

wards. They should not be treated in adult wards. It's questionable

whether that's legal. Best practice demands that doesn't happen. It is

becoming even more scandalous. We need the west End unit or an

equivalent to reopen. The Department of Health says it's investing ?54

million to improve services. This is intolerable. I've met with Alan

Johnson and families involved, and I've made it clear we ought to

ensure children are cared for as close to home as is possible. I'm on

a mission to improve the standards of mental health care. A national

review is now under way into the number of beds available for young

people with severe mental illness. Sarah joins us now from Hessle.

Sarah, the Government says it is addressing the problem. What

improvements are being made? Yes, well, the health minister Norman

Lamb says he's determined to make sure mental health is always treated

as seriously as physical health. There is a three`month review,

so`called rapid review, underwear into this situation. There is a push

to treat more young people in the community at home rather than

hospitals. Parents are continuing to complain to get this residential

unit reopened. It was closed because it failed to meet national

guidelines. The NHS says it is providing better care elsewhere.

Sarah, thanks. A man who broke his back after

falling from faulty scaffolding, says the builder who employed him

should have been punished more severely. Robert Wilkin from Lincoln

fell from scaffolding at a warehouse last year. Rodney Foyster ` the man

who hired him ` received a four`month suspended prison sentence

earlier today. Last week Lincolnshire's Police and Crime

Commissioner Alan Hardwick told Look North that the fight against rural

crime remains one of his top priorities. But a farmer who's had

hundreds of pounds of diesel stolen says it's not worth reporting

similar crimes because the police don't follow them up. Crispin Rolfe

reports. Closing the gate on rural crime `

all too late for Simon Hawkes. Just a week after Lincolnshire's crime

commissioner made cracking down on farm theft a police priority, this

East Kirkby farmer has had fuel and two valuable tractors stolen. Now,

after being told police won't investigate the diesel theft

further, he's questioning whether it's worth reporting smaller crimes

in future. They're not going to achieve anything. There's no point

wasting time trying to do it. That is on small thefts and small crimes.

I think the big crimes, two tractors going missing, we would want the

police here as soon as possible. And here's why Simon's disillusioned. A

letter from Lincolnshire Police saying that: Though it does say

that: And that's the message the county's

police and crime commissioner, Alan Hardwick, is now trying to send,

with officers insisting they'd rather farmers over rather than

under`reported incidents, even if it that doesn't necessarily result in

immediate arrests. I would far rather send an officer

to a suspicious incident that turns out to be nothing thatn not send an

officer at all. With the case you mentioned earlier, somebody heard

tractors starting at two o'clock in the morning, but didn't contact the

police. Alan Hardwick met with farmers last week in order to

reassure them of his claims that rural crime is falling. Police admit

the county remains a hot spots, with ?1.8 million worth of goods stolen

each year. The most common items are quad bikes, tools and fuel. In an

age of CCTV, then, this seems to come down to a question of

communication, with the National Farmers Union encouraging farmers to

talk to the police more ` though officers acknowledge they still have

work to do to convince farmers that they're not wasting police time.

Time for the weather now with Keeley.

Hello there. Good evening. A bright and breezy day to come tomorrow. A

cooler day than of late as well. Tonight's going to be quite chilly,

too. It will be largely dry with clear spells, and temperatures will

drop low enough for a touch of ground frost, particularly out in

the sheltered countryside. A blustery day to come tomorrow. The

breeze will remain strong, but as you can see, there'll be plenty of

dry and bright weather about. There'll be some decent spells of

sunshine, a few showers, but many places staying dry. Temperatures

seven or eight. Saturday the best day of the weekend. Some rain to

come on Sunday. Both days will be windy.

the outlook. On Sunday, we have grey skies and a bit of drizzle, too.

Good evening. You may have had the latest from the Met Office about the

rainfall we have had this winter, the wettest winter on record. It is

sometimes difficult to visualise the numbers. Let me explain how much

rain we had. If you think about a stretch of land across the UK, we

had about half a metre of rainfall falling so far this winter. That is,

if