08/07/2014 North West Tonight

for the patients of the future. That's all from us. Now on BBC One

Good evening. Greater Manchdster's health service is preparing

The plans could create up to five super hospitals, providing

specialist care to patients with the most traumatic injuries.

But some critics say it will cost too much

and might eventually lead to existing hospitals having to close.

2.8 million people will be `ffected and can have their say with the

This is about care across 12 hospital sites

and an annual budget of ?6 billion. This is what Healthier Together

which is made up of doctors and clinicians, want to do.

They want specialist hospit`ls in Salford, Oldham

and central Manchester to ddal with the most serious incidents.

And you could also choose two of these four hospitals dotted

around Greater Manchester to become specialist casualty departmdnts

North Manchester, Bury and Tameside will focus on carrying out

planned procedures and general surgery.

for Trafford General and Rochdale Infirmary.

so is this about saving livds or saving money?

And how do we make our hospitals fit for purpose?

It's nonstop at the resuscitation emergency unit

This is a department used to dealing with trauma.

A typical Monday will mean ht is crammed full of patients.

Dr Chris Brookes is a senior consultant in A

and he is also behind plans to focus specialist care in hospitals

The problem that we have currently is that resources are spread so

Currently there are variations in our emergency surgery, for hnstance,

If we took those variations out of the system, we would savd 15 0

Improving care and taking pressure off A is a major issue

But what's the future for our general hospitals?

The local General Hospital, in our view, is the jewel in the crown

It's where you should get most of your care.

We think we can improve, by all of our hospitals working

together and making the best use of their expertise and the skills

Some hospital trusts feel Hdalthier Together is causing division.

80,000 people a year use A services at Wythenshawe Hospital

but, along with Stepping Hill, Bolton and Wigan,

its fate as a specialist centre is in the hands of the public.

We are concerned that the process perhaps wasn't satisfactory

because we feel we already `re a specialist centre because of

We're obviously a major cardiac centre, thoracic centre and,

importantly, we do trauma and orthopaedic surgery as well

GP services, pharmacies and caring for pdople

Critics feel it is ill`concdived and due to an acute lack of funding

Five years ago, we had 12 A across Greater Manchester.

If Healthier Together gets hts way, we'll have five fully functhoning

A and I just think that's a crying shame.

The consultation will last for 12 weeks.

It's down to the public to decide whether this is the best trdatment

A man who claims he was abused while a pupil at Rochdale's Knowl

View School says he's disappointed he won't now be able to tell

his story to the independent inquiry into claims of a cover`up.

Peter Forbes was preparing to give information to the inqtiry

But yesterday that inquiry was suspended at the request of the

police because officers belheved a wider investigation was now needed.

I'm very saddened that they suspended it because I was,

not looking forward to giving my evidence, but I would have liked to

give my personal bit, my evhdence, regarding the allegations that I

A 94`year`old man's died in a house fire in Warrington.

Five crews were called out to tackle the flames

at a semi`detached bungalow on Gerosa Avenue in Winwick yesterday.

Cheshire Fire Service are working to establish the cause

Birkenhead factory worker John Singleton had to borrow golf clubs

from a friend so he could try to qualify for the Open Championship.

He never expected to succeed, but he did!

And next week he'll compete at Royal Liverpool alongside

John's been giving tips to local schoolchildren who'll be

volunteering at the Championship, as Stuart Pollitt reports.

John Singleton thought this was the closest he'd ever get to

the Claret Jug, but now he has the chance to compete with Tiger,

I just qualified to play in the Open for the first time.

I'm going to try and help you probably hit the ball

He's also using his amazing story to inspire the next generation

Have things sunk in yet? No. Not yet.

I went up there with a few friends last night and played nine holes.

They are telling me it's going to be amazing.

I still can't believe I'm actually going to play therd.

John got a late entry into the final qualifying l`st week

and, using some wedges he borrowed from a friend, beat more th`n 7

other players to earn one of just three spots in the Open

So many emotions I was going through.

I was thinking about my dad and my mum and my fiancee as well,

who's obviously put up with quite a lot with me going to work and

This is the prize for winning the Open Championship and whoever

picks this up in a few weeks' time will also pick up ?1 million.

The fact he only qualified on Tuesday and now he's herd.

And, for John, the whole Open experience should be

That's it from me, now here's Dianne with the weather.

80% of our region had a verx nice day today with plenty of sunshine.

The other 20% saw sunshine and showers.

Tomorrow, the showers aren't in the mix so it should be dry and fine.

This evening and overnight, well, the showers start to disperse now

and it should be a very settled picture.

We'll see a lot of clear we`ther once we are past midnight.

So, rurally, temperatures of eight and nine are not too bad at all

There could be a pocket of list in the early hours of the mornhng but

for towns and cities and along the coast, between 12 and 15 degrees.

Dry and fine with spells of sunshine from the word go.

Every now and then, a bit of fair weather cloud bubbles

up as the temperature starts to rise but it's really not a bad d`y.

The north westerly breeze is lighter through the morning.

Getting past lunchtime, it picks up a little bit.

It could be up to about 20mph along the coast

but temperatures are good between 18 and 20 Celsius.

Your national weather forec`st follows but I will leave yot with

our outlook for the next couple of days. Good night.

weekend. Hot on Saturday with thundery showers.

Good evening, the rain in Rio is matching the mood, I suspect, this

evening. Here, we will take a day off from the rain tomorrow, at least

most of us. There will be sunshine around. The showers will be back for

the end of the week. Dry over night virtually everywhere. Winds easing

down in many places except towards the North Sea coasts. The south west

will keep a breeze going. Not a cold night, temperatures holding 12- 4

degrees typically. A dry day virtually everywhere tomorrow. Cloud

breaking up to allow good spells of sunshine coming through,

particularly to Scotland, northern England,