25/01/2017 North West Tonight

Pensioners Jack Skelly and Richard Hansbury died after long

Tonight it's emerged that, in their separate cases,

the fact that paramedics were waiting to hand over patients

at nearby hospitals may have contributed to their deaths.

Here's our Health Correspondent Gill Dummigan Jack's story.

Jack Skelly was a man who loved life.

He appeared to be in good health but on December 19,

he collapsed in the family bathroom banging his head as he fell.

When it hadn't arrived in approximately 15 minutes,

She immediately began to assess her uncle's condition

while his family rang the Ambulance Service again.

I just kept talking to him, reassuring him

By now, Jo said it was coming up to 50 minutes since the first call.

At the very most, it should've been there within 20.

Finally you could see that the colour was changing.

He was becoming more and more deteriorated, sorry,

Five minutes later, the ambulance crew arrived.

She said the family will never know whether he might have lived

Whenever somebody has a trauma, for example, they talk

about the golden hour and uncle Jack's golden hour was waiting

I think it's an absolute disgrace and they should be held

We don't think this should ever happen again to anybody.

Tell us a bit more about the second case?

This case concerns 65-year-old Richard Hansbury.

He lived alone in a sheltered accommodation flat in Wigan.

He'd collapsed in October and was bleeding heavily

The alarm was raised and the call was flagged as red -

Paramedics should have been there within eight minutes.

His family claim it was more than hour before crews arrived.

Mr Hansbury weighed 19 stone and ambulance staff needed another

None were available meaning it was over two and a half hours

after the first 999 call before he got to hospital

And Steve, so what have the North West Ambulance said

about the two deaths, and the problems they're facing?

As with Mr Skelly we featured in Gill Dummigans report

and in Mr Hansbury's case, the Ambulance Service apologise

They say there was high demand and a number

of resources were waiting with patients at hospitals.

They say the operating environment over recent weeks has been amongst

Demand for general 999 calls is up 7% year to date.

Unions say their members are feeling the pressure,

and that they should be freed up once they get to hospital.

We think once the ambulance reaches the hospital, the patient is then

The patient in the community are the ones at risk because they can't

They say that long waits for urgent cases are unacceptable

and are extremely frustrating for our staff.

They say they're working with NHS colleagues

A man has been arrested after a 63-year-old was killed

in an alleged hit-and-run as he went for a walk with his

The man who died has been named as Michael Meekins.

The incident happened last night on Princes Way in Fleetwood.

A 23-year-old man is in police custody.

Thousands of pounds worth of damage has been caused

to Trafford Town Hall after a man smashed windows and

It happened early on Saturday morning.

The main entrance to the building won't be available

Police are investigating the attack.

Scientists in Liverpool have made what's being described

as a monumental step forward in the treatment

Clinical trials at the Clatterbridge Centre

and the Royal Liverpool Hospital found that pairing two drugs

increased patients chances of living at least five years.

Pancreatic Cancer UK is calling for the treatment to be made

Thousands of pheasants are being culled at a farm

The farm at the centre of the outbreak in Preesall

is worried it could go bankrupt after Government officials

confirmed the virus had infected some of its birds.

It's the first bird flu case in Lancashire since 2015.

It was confirmed last night that bird flu had been found

An investigation is underway in a flock of 10,000

I have done it now for 54 years and potentially it

If it wipes everything out, it would nearly bankrupt us.

A three kilometre protection zone is in place around the infected area

along with the ten kilometre surveillance zone to

Animal health officers are at the farm and a number

of pheasants have died and the remaining birds are due

There will be a primary and secondary disinfect which aims

to rid the farm of any traces of the disease.

The farmer will get paid for the birds that are healthy

and have to be destroyed because of this disease.

That is quite a good rate but what is the huge cost

He will have to clean that farm out to a very strict standard.

Bill Davison runs a farm close to the outbreak.

As a farmer, I am not too worried about this disease spreading,

provided we do what we have to do, which is keep the birds indoors.

A precautionary measure was announced last month.

It is believed the H5NH strain has been spread by migratory birds.

It has been found in Wales, north Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

It can be found on birds themselves if they are undetected and infected.

People's feet, materials taken out of the farm,

which is why we are strict on movement off farms.

Public Health England says the risk to people is very low

and the Food Standards Agency says there is no threat to food safety.

The MP for Liverpool Riverside says she will defy the Labour Party

leadership and vote against triggering Article 50

to start the UK's departure from the European Union.

73% of Louise Ellman's constituents who voted in last year's referendum

She told me earlier that Liverpool has benefited massively

from European investment and she's heard nothing yet from

the Government to suggest the city will continue to prosper

I voted against the Labour whip on a very limited of occasions

but well I thought it was to do with principal and the health

service, to do with the education, to do with schools.

Now I'm looking at the future of the city of Liverpool and up

to now I haven't had any convincing argument from the government

about the kind of negotiation they want to enter into which will

look after the people of Liverpool Riverside.

In a word, you are not trying to overturn Brexit?

As I see it now, I'm not going to vote to trigger Article 50.

Football and Liverpool have been knocked out

They lost their semifinal second leg against Southampton at Anfield.

Moments after being denied a penalty, The Reds conceded

the only goal of the night on this breakaway.

Southampton winning 2-0 on aggregate and they'll face

Manchester United or Hull in the final.

Their semifinal second leg is tomorrow.

We've reported many times on the super-material

graphene which was developed by scientists in Manchester.

Tougher than steel and thinner than hair,

Perhaps the world's most technologically advanced little

black dress was unveiled in the city today.

The designers of the dress hope the technology can one day be used

to make clothing which changes colour while being worn.

Good evening. Today was a cold day. You can see the air is coming

towards us from the continent over the next couple of days. Towards the

weekend, the weather friends come towards us and we have some cloud

cover and outbreaks of rain. The weekend doesn't look like one of

sparkling sunshine. We have a drop in the temperatures. Once the sun

went down in the sky was clear, there was a distinct drop down to

three Celsius. We're starting to see more cloud coming in. Temperatures

may not go as low as we thought. Temperatures down to minus three

Celsius. There would be a frost in some places and visibility will not

be brilliant. We have a stiff breeze tomorrow. The wind will be gusty all

through the day. There is not that much in the way of sunshine. We will

see a lot of cloud cover that will take some time to clear. The numbers

tomorrow are very poor. The outlook, milder temperatures return.

take a look at the Outlook towards the weekend.

Good evening. If you think it was cold today, for many it will be

colder still tomorrow. Cold even when we have the sunshine today.

This was one of the wonderful weather watcher pictures we had sent

in from Cornwall. It contrasts with a cloudy and foggy eastern half of

the country, and a bank of cloud. Still foggy, but it is starting to

lift. It is being pushed north and west, this bank of cloud. That will

continue through the night. We will still have some fog sitting on the

hills. Even with the cloud, it will be a cold night, with temperatures

away from the far north and west falling to freezing. In the

countryside, well below freezing. And on the wind and it will feel

better, it already feels better. Giving us some freezing drizzle and

snow as well. Although the fog will not be as extensive as recent

nights, it will still be heading on the hills and ice will become a

player in places. Some drizzle and snow grains falling