13/01/2017 North West Tonight

Good evening.

There's more evidence tonight revealing the pressure

facing our hospitals.

New figures from the NHS show that during the first week of this year

almost half of the acute trusts in this region raised serious

concerns about the demands being made on them.

Two on Merseyside declared a major alert on the same day,

meaning patient safety could be at risk.

But there was also confusion over the accuracy of the figures.

Our chief reporter, Dave Guest has been

to the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

I asked him what the situation was there during the

first week of the New Year?

On January 4th, this hospital declared what's known

as an Opel four alert.

Basically, that means the pressure on its services

were such that patient care was in danger of being compromised.

On that same day, a similar alert was raised

at the Southport Hospital.

One stage below Opel four is Opel three.

In official jargon, that's when local health and social care

systems are experiencing major pressures, which

compromise patient flow.

In plain English, too many people are occupying beds in hospital that

shouldn't really be there.

Folk, who through no fault of their own,

are in hospital when they should be receiving care elsewhere.

The problem is, there isn't any elsewhere.

But as we've said, some of the details in today's official

figures were wrong, weren't they?

Yeah, NHS England initially said that another two

Merseyside hospitals, Aintree and Alder Hey,

had also declared Opel four alerts on January the 4th.

Those two hospitals begged to differ this morning,

and this afternoon, NHS England admitted a mistake had been made,

due to what they called a technical error.

Aintree had been registered as having an Opel four alert,

when it was in fact an Opel three alert - which is still a pretty

difficult situation.

And it said Alder Hey shouldn't have been included at all,

that was a mistake.

So what's the situation at the Royal Liverpool today?

The hospital stresses that these figures are simply a snapshot

of a moment in time, the situation changes

from hour to hour, from day to day.

So to get an idea of what has been happening in there today,

we spoke to a few patients and visitors as they were

leaving this evening.

When I first went in, there was a lot of people in the corridor.

Me dad come in last night, or yesterday afternoon,

he was in resus for at least eight hours, that's when I left.

It was the same again today, loads of people in the corridors on beds.

My mum's been in there quite a while.

And I think the nurses do a really great job.

They are under pressure, but that's the NHS at the moment, in't it?

Whatever the stats labelled to any hospital, they are all

facing the same kind of pressures, aren't they?

That's right, yes.

Let's not forget, in the first week of 2017, almost half of the acute

NHS trusts in the North West were reporting that they were

being put under pressure because of pressures on social care

and other health providers in their area.

Those pressures from outside affecting the patient

flow inside hospitals.

It's a story we've heard a lot of in recent weeks,

I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more about it in the

weeks and months to come.

Meanwhile, the Government's stressing it's aware

of the challenges that face the NHS, and it is spending billions

of pounds extra, it says, on trying to address some

of those challenges.

Thanks for joining us.

Thousands of hens are being slaughtered in the North West

because fears over bird flu mean they can no longer roam free.

A re-homing charity says many of its volunteers don't

have the space to keep them indoors after the Government

restricted their movement.

Ian Haslam reports.

2500 hens are re-homed at this farm in Rossendale every year.

For the last month, its residents have been confined to a shed.

Normally you would see chickens wandering round.

At the moment, we can't do anything, we can't allow them

to free range at all.

Adele Hall is one of 500 British Hen Welfare Trust volunteers

who take in birds due to be sent to slaughter.

It's had a massive effect, we've not been unable

to re-home any hens.

We've lost over 12,000 birds that have had to go to slaughter that

would normally, by now, be pecking around the garden,

which is what we're here for.

It's been heartbreaking for the charity.

And, of course, the restrictions don't just apply to hens,

they apply to all poultry.

Meaning these turkeys have been stuck inside this shed

since early December.

Adele's now trying to ensure her birds can get

at least some fresh air.

This is the hen run I'm having built, which not everyone can do,

they don't have the resources to do this.

One of the important thing that he's going to do is put on a roof,

something that won't allow droppings to come through on the ground.

Which is how it's believed the disease has been spread

from migratory birds.

After cases across Europe, bird flu has been found in North Yorkshire,

Lincolnshire and Wales in the last month.

Thousands of birds have died.

The Government says it's strengthening its surveillance

on the extent of infection in wild birds.

Police in Rochdale have launched an investigation after the

body of man was found in an alleyway last night.

The man - who's believed to be in his 30s - was discovered off

Promenade Street in Heywood.

His death is being treated as suspicious.

The funeral's taken place of a teenager from Lancashire

who died from a suspected allergic reaction to a takeaway meal.

15-year-old Megan Lee had eaten food from the Royal Spice takeaway

in Oswaldtwistle and died on New Year's Day.

Two men have since been arrested and bailed.

How well do you know your neighbours?

Emmanuel Bushayija lives in a terraced house in Sale.

His neighbours describe him as normal,

down to earth, regularly seen putting the bins out.

He is in fact a king - King Yuhi VI of Rwanda.

He's just inherited the throne in the country

after the death of his uncle.

His neighbours were surprised to hear it.

It's a bit weird to find out there's a king living in your road.

But...

It is a bit surreal, I think he's away at the minute, in't he?

At a funeral for his uncle.

But that's all I really know about him.

He's a very humble, private man.

I've just got to know him as a friend, really, as Emmanuel,

the nice man that he is.

And I enjoy his company.

That's it from me, here's Diane with a look at the weather.

Good evening to you.

There could be more wintry weather in our forecast through the night.

The immediate problem is ice on untreated surfaces.

Temperatures are falling away, most towns and cities around zero.

But as showers come into this cold air, like last night,

snow showers could turn up almost anywhere, there could be covering

in a places in the morning.

If you don't see the snow, you will see rain.

The numbers on the chart are for towns and cities,

rural areas are going to be colder than that.

Very cold first thing on Saturday, taking some time

for the temperatures to recover.

Through the day there will be a steady rise,

most places see a tonne of winter sunshine tomorrow, looking

good, feeling cold.

Coastal areas at the risk of a few showers.

But it looks like mostly a dry day, top temperatures through

the afternoon 6 degrees.

Saturday night not too cold, completely different picture

on Sunday, more cloud around, much milder at around 9 degrees.

At the start of next week, you can see the mild temperatures

and damp weather stay with us.

5-6 is the best we

5-6 is the best we will

5-6 is the best we will have.

5-6 is the best we will have. It

5-6 is the best we will have. It stays