13/01/2017 Midlands Today

New figures have revealed the extent of the pressures on the region's

hospitals in the first two weeks of the new year.

Six of our NHS Trusts spent at least one day last week on level 3

and level 4 alerts, meaning they were

The son of a pensioner who waited overnight in a corridor says

Another emergency, another patient heading

In this pressurised winter, the tightest of pinch points.

That's the problem, you can't get away from that fact.

Graeme's dad, Derek, went to A there on Monday.

He spent 15 hours in a corridor, it was 48 hours before he got

It wasn't that they were abandoned, in any sense of the word.

There were staff there, paramedics and nurses,

and everyone was being looked after, but it was clearly a system

that was overloaded and was getting close to not being able to cope.

In a statement, the hospital said pressures here are continuing

but they have robust plans for dealing with them.

It also confirmed that in the two weeks up to January the 4th,

109 patients waited 12 hours or more for treatment in A

Figures out today show in the first week of the year

one hospital, the Royal Stoke, spent a day at level four,

formerly black alert, where comprehensive patient care

It spent the next three days on level three,

what used to be red alert, denoting major pressures, along

Shrewsbury and Telford spent two days at level three.

Russells Hall in Dudley and Coventry's University

An expert on the NHS says there's no quick fix...

There is a need for more beds but the sort of beds that

are probably needed, or the sort of support

that is often needed, is probably out there in social care

or in community hospitals and other community services,

so that people can move on to those services after they've

had their initial assessment and treatment in hospital.

None of our A shut their doors to patients but the demands they're

facing were never greater, the fault lines

Meanwhile, an NHS review has decided maternity services will not

return to Stafford County Hospital on safety as well

Consultant-led obstetrics were moved from the site

to the Royal Stoke Hospital last January.

In other news, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central has

Tristram Hunt, who's a historian, is leaving politics to take over

as director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

There's already speculation about who his party will choose

Our reporter Rob Mayor is in Stoke for us now.

I think to some of his constituents but not really people following

Westminster politics. He was an open critic of Labour

leader Jeremy Corbyn and decided not Before being an MP he had

a successful career as a historian, writing books and

presenting TV programmes. But he says that isn't why

he is leaving parliament, it's just that becoming

the director of the V Museum Earlier I asked voters

here in Stoke what they thought. He has a presence in the city,

I think it's fair to say. He's not local but I think he's

tried his best to represent Stoke. The Labour Party have got

no chance of getting in with Jeremy Corbyn in charge

anyway, so he might He's going to a better job

than the one he's got, probably! The thoughts of some people in Stoke

today. One possible replacement will be

Mohammed Purvis, the leader of the Labour group on Stoke-on-Trent City

Council. Around a hundred jobs

will be created in Telford, after a car-parts manufacturer

announced plans for a new factory. Austrian firm Polytec is moving

to the T54 Technology Park. Its UK base is currently

at Bromyard in Herefordshire. The company says that site won't be

affected by the new development. A special summit's been arranged

to discuss how to tackle the growing problem of illegal Traveller camps

across the West Midlands. The Police and Crime Commissioner

says they're costing the taxpayer and private landlords hundreds

of thousands of pounds. Steve Dale has now paid

for new security measures, including concrete blocks

at the entrance to his industrial site in Tipton, after illegal

Travellers set up there last week. An estimated 300 illegal camps

are moved on each year. We need to work more closely,

the police with local councils, and also to see if the law needs

to be changed, to balance those rights between the Travellers' right

to travel and people their right to use their park

the way they want to. Ludlow Museum's waiting to see

if anyone will come forward to claim a substantial amount of gold found

hidden in a piano in Shropshire. It was found in the

110-year-old instrument If nobody can prove it belongs

to them, it could be declared More than a hundred schools

were closed across Stoke and Staffordshire today

after heavier than expected snow fell overnight, giving hundreds

of children like these Driving conditions were

difficult in some areas. And a baby was born in the back

of a police car on its way to the Royal Stoke Hospital,

after her parents' car And of course you can stay in touch

with the latest weather and travel problems in your area

via your BBC local radio station. I'll leave you with

the weather from Rebecca. Well, there's been plenty

of talk of snow today. We did get some across

the North Midlands in particular, and to quite low levels further

south across the region, but not everywhere, and we had

plenty of blue skies as well. As we head through the weekend we're

going to start with an ice warning. It is covering much

of the region as we head To low levels we could have some

quite tricky driving conditions. We still have some wintry flurries

possible across the North Midlands, blowing down through the Cheshire

gap, so they could By the early hours of tomorrow

turning more to sleet, but it's still a cold night,

temperatures dipping down We start the day tomorrow with those

northerly winds continuing. We still have a few showers

working their way southwards. Those winds are going to make

things feel quite chilly. We'll see those showers

clearing away to the south. There might be a wintry mix

in there, but then we'll be left Still a few showers rippling along

the west coast as well. There's more information on that

in the national forecast. I'll leave you with the outlook

for the next few days. 5-6 is the best we will have. It

stays cold into the beginning of next week as well

stop Good evening, a cold, icy night, but some others have other

concerns. This was the scene earlier today, huge waves crashing on to the

shoreline at Whitley Bay. We still have the peak of the high tide to

come in other parts. This is the flood line number. It's if you have

any concerns. The worst of the wind slowly comes -- subsiding. Wintry

showers across the North of Scotland and some filtering well inland

across the Midlands, giving a light dusting in some places. An icy

night, temperatures widely close to or below freezing, particularly

where you have snow cover. Tomorrow starts cold. A large chunk of the UK

will have a fine, crisp,