:00:12. > :00:13.A coroner's strongly criticised standards at Sowerby House
:00:14. > :00:19.It was put into special measures after three residents died.
:00:20. > :00:22.The home says it's now made significant improvements but,
:00:23. > :00:25.during a two-day inquest in Northallerton, one nurse who'd
:00:26. > :00:28.worked there said she'd never seen conditions like it.
:00:29. > :00:35.It was a care home that should have provided safe accommodation.
:00:36. > :00:39.When three residents died here last year,
:00:40. > :00:41.Sowerby House in Thirsk was far from perfect.
:00:42. > :00:43.Today, Michael Oakley, the North Yorkshire coroner,
:00:44. > :00:49.said standards fell well short of what was expected.
:00:50. > :00:53.The home he said was inadequately managed and record keeping was poor.
:00:54. > :00:56.The family of Albert Pooley, one of the residents who died,
:00:57. > :01:01.feared he wasn't being fed properly or being given enough to drink.
:01:02. > :01:06.When he died he was emaciated and severely dehydrated.
:01:07. > :01:08.The coroner has acknowledged the standard of care for Albert
:01:09. > :01:11.while he was a resident was below the standard expected
:01:12. > :01:16.We support the ongoing work identified by the CQC to bring
:01:17. > :01:19.about the required improvements to prevent similar circumstances
:01:20. > :01:26.The other two residents who died at the home where James Metcalfe
:01:27. > :01:30.and Harry Kelvington, both were 85.
:01:31. > :01:32.Today, despite the home being strongly criticised,
:01:33. > :01:35.the coroner said the deaths of the three men were not
:01:36. > :01:41.Although Sowerby House has since been downgraded from a care
:01:42. > :01:44.home to residential, he concluded that all three men had
:01:45. > :01:52.The inquest did hear from an agency nurse who spent just four hours
:01:53. > :01:56.She said she had never seen conditions like it.
:01:57. > :02:00.I came across a man in a room who was eating his breakfast
:02:01. > :02:05.with the bedside table crawling in ants.
:02:06. > :02:09.A man covered in urine from head to toe.
:02:10. > :02:14.It smelt very strongly as if he had been lying there for hours.
:02:15. > :02:16.The owners of the home say significant improvements
:02:17. > :02:20.have since been made with new management in place.
:02:21. > :02:24.Mr Pooley's family has welcomed plans by the CQC to reinspect
:02:25. > :02:31.Phil Connell, BBC Look North, Sowerby.
:02:32. > :02:35.Two men who beat a 50-year-old man to death in a flat in Scarborough
:02:36. > :02:40.Ricky Walker died in the flat in Princess Street last October.
:02:41. > :02:43.His family described it as an act of pure evil.
:02:44. > :02:46.Andrew Stevenson will serve at least 28 years in jail
:02:47. > :02:52.and Clifford Honeymoon a minimum of 25.
:02:53. > :02:54.She says she's in despair and almost constant pain.
:02:55. > :02:58.A doctor told Louise Baines she must lose weight otherwise
:02:59. > :03:01.she couldn't have an operation on her arthritic hip.
:03:02. > :03:04.Her local NHS in North Yorkshire delays access to routine surgery
:03:05. > :03:07.for smokers and people who are obese.
:03:08. > :03:14.Living on a farm means Louise Baines is relatively active but it also
:03:15. > :03:20.The 40-year-old has arthritis in her hip and has been told
:03:21. > :03:24.by a private consultant it needs replacing.
:03:25. > :03:28.But rules introduced by the local NHS in Scarborough and Ryedale mean
:03:29. > :03:33.patients classified as obese face delays of six months before
:03:34. > :03:38.they will be referred for surgery, so they can try and lose weight.
:03:39. > :03:41.I feel like I've been passed over to one side,
:03:42. > :03:46.I should be enjoying life at 40, enjoying my family and I can't do
:03:47. > :03:55.An NHS group in North Yorkshire said it could refuse
:03:56. > :03:59.Similar policies for routine hip and knee operations hit
:04:00. > :04:04.the headlines when they were adopted elsewhere in North Yorkshire.
:04:05. > :04:07.CCGs say introducing criteria around patients who are overweight,
:04:08. > :04:10.or smokers, is clinically driven, better for patients
:04:11. > :04:17.They have a long-standing problem with finance in Yorkshire.
:04:18. > :04:19.There is population movement but underlying
:04:20. > :04:23.it is questions about the formula by which money is distributed.
:04:24. > :04:25.Some are doing quite well but North Yorkshire
:04:26. > :04:30.There is definitely more rationing coming in,
:04:31. > :04:35.This often hits people who have got social and economic
:04:36. > :04:43.You could say the policies are discriminatory.
:04:44. > :04:46.NHS England says it is aware of the deficits forecast
:04:47. > :04:48.by the Clinical Commissioning Groups in North Yorkshire,
:04:49. > :04:52.and is working with them to find long-term solutions.
:04:53. > :04:55.The changes around surgery are one small part of a wider plan
:04:56. > :04:59.being developed by the CCGs to improve their finances.
:05:00. > :05:02.The challenges remain, with populations that are ageing
:05:03. > :05:10.Louise is now taking part in a weight-loss programme but fears
:05:11. > :05:14.she will still need an operation when her six-month wait is over.
:05:15. > :05:21.More than 100 businesses in Hexham are being taken to court
:05:22. > :05:26.Traders voted for a business improvement district last year
:05:27. > :05:28.designed to boost the economy, but some firms say they get
:05:29. > :05:36.Our correspondent, Mark Denten, has this report.
:05:37. > :05:41.He has a garage in Hexham but he's just had a ?400 bill
:05:42. > :05:55.It's decided by a local vote of firms who pay a levy
:05:56. > :05:58.There are currently a total of five business improvement districts
:05:59. > :06:03.in our region alongside Hexham, including ones in Newcastle,
:06:04. > :06:08.In Hexham, the aim is to boost trade and tourism.
:06:09. > :06:12.But at this garage on an industrial estate, the day-trippers are few
:06:13. > :06:17.He didn't vote for the scheme and hasn't paid his levy.
:06:18. > :06:19.And now, along with 150 other businesses in Hexham,
:06:20. > :06:25.What have you actually got from it so far?
:06:26. > :06:28.So far, nothing apart from empty promises of some hanging
:06:29. > :06:32.baskets and extra signage, which a lot of businesses
:06:33. > :06:36.feel should be the council's responsiblity.
:06:37. > :06:38.This local businessman staged a one-man protest
:06:39. > :06:47.I deal with industry, factories, industrial maintenance.
:06:48. > :06:54.Hexham could turn into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for me.
:06:55. > :07:00.My business and what I do will not benefit at all.
:07:01. > :07:02.In the town centre, the pavements are definitely
:07:03. > :07:07.Nick's wholefood business voted for the levy.
:07:08. > :07:13.?10,000 of that money's going to be spent on cleaning the streets.
:07:14. > :07:15.We've argued that streets aren't being cleaned,
:07:16. > :07:18.and we see that as something that should be paid for by County Hall
:07:19. > :07:23.But the people behind the scheme say it's working.
:07:24. > :07:25.Everybody will get something out of the bid.
:07:26. > :07:30.We have a four-year project programme, a range of projects
:07:31. > :07:33.including cleaning, improved cleaning in the town,
:07:34. > :07:36.improved signage and access, making it easier to find businesses
:07:37. > :07:40.that you actually want to find, things like Christmas lights,
:07:41. > :07:44.a number of things that will happen over the four years.
:07:45. > :07:47.Northumberland Council says that this is a tax that is legally
:07:48. > :07:51.enforceable and that over 80% of traders in the town
:07:52. > :07:56.Those that haven't will appear in court later this month.
:07:57. > :08:02.Newcastle's Freeman Hospital is training doctors
:08:03. > :08:07.The machines revolutionise cancer treatment by allowing
:08:08. > :08:13.Our correspondent, Peter Harris, reports.
:08:14. > :08:16.The surgeons sit at a console - they control the robot,
:08:17. > :08:20.it allows access that was previously impossible.
:08:21. > :08:23.Yes, I think robotic surgery allows surgeons to do really complex
:08:24. > :08:26.surgery in narrow spaces with extreme dexterity,
:08:27. > :08:30.and it also gives surgeons 3D vision so they cause minimal trauma
:08:31. > :08:34.to adjacent organs, and the patient outcomes are very quick
:08:35. > :08:38.and the patient recovers very quickly after major cancer surgery.
:08:39. > :08:41.And there is another benefit, which is the time it takes
:08:42. > :08:47.for a surgeon to become proficient is reduced by about three quarters.
:08:48. > :08:50.Do you think surgeons are doing themselves out of a job
:08:51. > :08:54.At the end of the day, we are controlling the robot,
:08:55. > :08:57.we may control them from a different venue, from another part
:08:58. > :09:01.of the world even, so I think we will still be behind the robots.
:09:02. > :09:04.We were just hearing a talk this morning about the robots now that
:09:05. > :09:07.are able to do gall bladder surgery themselves, the robot has now been
:09:08. > :09:09.trained by the surgeon, so maybe one day, ten years down
:09:10. > :09:12.the line, we'll see a robot that can operate on the throat
:09:13. > :09:16.and the surgeon doesn't need to take part in it any more, who knows?
:09:17. > :09:18.The Freeman Hospital is unique in offering robot training
:09:19. > :09:20.in numerous different kinds of surgery, and for the patients it
:09:21. > :09:25.will mean more precise cancer treatments and quicker recovery.
:09:26. > :09:55.High pressure is in charge of the web is spelt in eastern areas,
:09:56. > :10:00.cloudy west of the Pennines. Enough breeze and patchy cloud to keep
:10:01. > :10:09.temperatures six or seven Celsius. Weather skies do stay clear, touch
:10:10. > :10:13.of frost, but that will be isolated. Tomorrow, dry start. Good sunny
:10:14. > :10:17.spells in the east from the word go and the cloud in the West should
:10:18. > :10:22.break up much more readily than today. Most places will see a sunny
:10:23. > :10:27.spells. By the afternoon, the sunshine continues. Temperatures are
:10:28. > :10:34.not tropical. Highs of 12 or 13 Celsius in the sunshine. High
:10:35. > :10:39.pressure in charge of the weather. It slips away eastwards over the
:10:40. > :10:41.next few days. A change in wind direction from a westerly the
:10:42. > :10:48.south-west and more southerly at times. That should start to lift
:10:49. > :10:53.temperatures. As we head into the weekend. Saturday a dry day. Not
:10:54. > :10:57.unbroken sunshine. Blue skies and sunshine for many of us.
:10:58. > :10:59.Temperatures peaking at 15 or 16 Celsius. By Sunday, this
:11:00. > :11:00.temperatures climb to rise into the weekend. We'll see
:11:01. > :11:11.22 Celsius on Sunday. Hello. There was some warm sunshine
:11:12. > :11:15.around today, but it's set to get even warmer this weekend. 18 Celsius
:11:16. > :11:19.in London this afternoon. This was the scene in Chiswick, much quieter
:11:20. > :11:23.than it was on Sunday for the boat race. Under the cloud for example
:11:24. > :11:26.here in Cumbria, temperatures struggled to make double figures.
:11:27. > :11:30.Through the night we're going to hang onto a lot of cloud across
:11:31. > :11:33.north-west England, North Wales, Northern Ireland and western
:11:34. > :11:37.Scotland, where there will be a bit of drizzle on the breeze. Zero skies
:11:38. > :11:40.across many southern and eastern parts of England, together with
:11:41. > :11:43.eastern Scotland and in the countryside again, temperatures
:11:44. > :11:47.won't be far away from freezing. Just briefly, at the end of the
:11:48. > :11:50.night, because it will warm up in the sunshine. That's why we have the
:11:51. > :11:53.best of the early sunshine. The cloud will break up across Wales,
:11:54. > :11:59.the Midlands and North West England. We may hang onto more cloud in
:12:00. > :12:02.Northern Ireland and western Scotland will stop with sunshine and
:12:03. > :12:03.light