11/05/2017 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Natalie Graham.

Tonight's top stories: A deeply troubling case -

a Government apology to the family of a Kent murder victim

for the substandard service they received.

Celebrating a remarkable recovery from cancer -

the seven-year-old boy who was given a 10% chance of survival.

He wouldn't be here today, but for the wonderful doctors and nurses at

the Royal Marsden Hospital. Also tonight, I will be live in Chatham

as we start our tour around the coast of the south-east, debating

the Bishop issues facing the electorate. The NHS is under more

pressure with wait willing times, more cancelled operations and our

A are struggling to home. We'll be talking live with four political

hopefuls, aiming to take their policies to Westminster next month.

Blue Tobin is an seven-year-old boy from East Kent who's being hailed

When he was two, he was diagnosed with cancer.

His family were told the NHS could only offer a very risky,

pioneering treatment and there was only a 10%

Today, he was declared free of the disease,

It's the sound that says there's no cancer inside his body.

Today seven-year-old Blue Tobin was given the all-clear.

Without the Royal Marsden, without his donor, Andreas,

without the people that raised money for research into these drugs

which saved my son's life, he wouldn't be here today.

But thanks to the wonderful doctors and nurses...

Blue's mother thanks one of the many medics who helped

For her it had been a tortuous journey.

Blue was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer

called myeloid leukaemia when he was two years' old.

The family was told nothing more could be done.

Doctors suggested using two drugs trials in adult cancer,

but never used in a child of Blue's age.

There was only a 10 to 15% chance the drugs would lead to remission.

Blue was well enough to receive a bone marrow transplant.

I cannot remember in 25 years of haematology,

many patients having such a bad leukaemia, who we managed

So many people to thank but how do you thank anybody

All but one of our hospital trusts in the South East have failed

to meet the Government's target of seeing 95% of patients

The latest NHS statistics, published today, are the last to be released

Health is one of the most significant issues for voters.

So in the first of our special election broadcasts,

in which we tour the southeast's coastline, we're discussing the NHS.

Let's cross to Rob who is in the Medway towns.

Yes, I am, I'm in Chatham on the River Medway. I have been on the

water today. We'll test the political waters in a very literal

sense. This is the boat I have been on. There are three constituencies

in the Medway towns, each in their own way bellwethers for which way

people nationally are likely to vote.

For these Medway towns, just after the war, Stroud, Rochesterer,

Gillingham, Rainham, they voted Labour. In Thatcher years they voted

Tory,nd Tony Blair they went red again. Whoever wins here, has a good

chance of forming the Government. I've come off the boat. Let's go

into Chatham and have a chat with people about what they think the big

issues are? We need to get the Brexit vote done and dusted and know

where we are. At the moment we don't know. I shouldn't say this. The

country is giving far too much away to other countries instead of

looking after ourselves. I think there needs to be a focus on the

NHS. Fewer and fewer GPs and long waiting lists for operations. I

think they should do more for mental hale. I have suffered a bit since I

was about six years' old and trying to get help is really hard. When you

go to the hospital, like, you wait three hours, four hours, you know, I

think that's, you know, that's too much. Quite honestly, you need my

husband who's gone to the car, because whatever he thinks, I go

along with. What about the NHS, is it important to you? Absolutely. I

paid into it all my life. I want to make sure when I get older, they are

going it look after me, you know. Well, the NHS is clearly something

that is high in people's thoughts when I found out up at the dockside

retail centre in chat home. Mark is with me. Another set of figures have

been published today to show how much pressure the NHS is under It is

startling because it has been a mild winter so they vowed have had a good

time to be honest. It is about resource verses demand. Do they have

the resources they need, maybe money or staff. Set that against the

rising demand, we have seen a huge rise, it'll only get worse in the

next five, ten, 20 years, when it goes wrong, well we have seen what

happens when it goes wrong more often than not but we have seen

outstanding care from the NHS staff when under pressure. I have taken a

road trip, coast to coast, Kent to Sussex, started off in the Medway

towns, to see the challenges facing the health service.

So the first stop will be the Medway Maritime Hospital.

A few years ago labelled one of the worst hospitals in the country.

Patients were dying unnecessarily, thousands were being

They've come a long way in the last 18 months.

A few weeks ago, I watched as the Chief Executive told her staff...

Medway NHS Foundation Trust is now taken out of special measures.

But just as hospitals can both struggle with the pressures

and offer great care from dedicated staff, patients also see

It's always really striking that people can almost hold two

So, people can understand that there's lots of stress

in the system, that lots of bits don't work as they should,

but then can also feel very angry and frustrated that,

for them, that's meant I can't get the service that

And nowhere is that seen more clearly than in A

Across the country, departments have seen attendances up

30% in the last decade and every A is struggling to employ enough

staff, manage demand and hit Government targets.

Emergency departments are supposed to see, treat,

admit or discharge patients within four hours.

Last winter not one of our hospitals in Kent,

In East Kent, 37% of patients had to wait more than four hours,

one of the worst records in the country.

But the problems are not unique to one hospital or one

I'm crossing the border from Kent and Medway

into Sussex and to my right, the hospital in Redhill.

Last winter it had one of the highest numbers of what used

to be called black alerts, that threatened patients' safety.

The hospitals in Eastbourne and Hastings weren't far behind.

But we are on our way to Brighton - a trust recently put into special

measures but also one where they're spending almost ?500 million

This is the Royal Sussex County Hospital and you can see

the money being spent here on the redevelopment.

Bedblocking, or what they now call "delayed discharges",

are a huge issue both here and indeed across the country.

In January 2017, patients spent almost 200,000 days

stuck in a hospital bed when they didn't have to.

The NHS say that increases the cost of treatment

Here in Brighton, they spent almost 2,600 days stuck in a hospital bed.

The highest rate of any hospital in the south-east.

I've looked at A and delayed discharges.

There is not one dysfunctional part of the system, where if you put it

right suddenly everything is going to fall into place.

What we need are real steps towards integration

and that means when services are being commissioned,

When services are being provided, they are being provided

Integrated care, a phrase we are going to hear

Integration is a term that kind of covers a whole range of things

and we do need to join those up but to develop those kinds

of services whilst maintaining a hospital service will require

additional resources and that takes time.

We are changing both organisations and cultures.

It's not a case that you can simply switch services

So I've ended up on Brighton Beach and like the tide the problems

I haven't even mentioned the problems getting a GP appointment,

cancer waiting times, not enough midwives,

What about the problems with the Ambulance Service

or what about the five year forward view.

There's mental health services and not enough...

An awful lot of issues there we could go into. It is worth bearing

in mind how enormous the NHS is. It employs 1.7 million in total. The

country spends ?110 billion a year and the number of operations carried

out are 40% more per year than they were in 2005 but clearly the strains

are starting to show. Lots of additions in waiting times, people

not getting the operations they need necessarily when they want to have

them. What are we going to do about it? I have three people who want to

represent their constituents in the next parliamentary round in the next

generation. I'm joined by Helen Whately, for the Conservatives. And

Christine Baylis and Emmanuel Feyisetan representing Ukip and I

should say we wanted to have Stephen Lloyd from the Liberal Democrats but

he is stuck in traffic. Helen Whately, what are you going to do

about it? I would say the NHS Sunday a great deal of pressure at the

moment, as you have mentioned. That's absolutely true but we also

shouldn't just look at the problems we should look at what is working.

Before I was a Member of Parliament I worked in health care, spent lots

of times in hospitals and the doctors would say this to me -

please don't focus on where it is difficult, A but lots of things

are going well. Here in Chatham... We know those good things and it is

coming out of special measures but what are you going to do to improve

things? Your Government has been in power forself years, more of the

same? Medway is doing well, come out of special measures, one of the

hospitals on the other side in my constituency, East Kent, has come

out of special measures, people are surviving cancers and other serious

diseases they wouldn't have before? How are you going to improve things

sn.s we need to keep on improving T some that of is money, my Government

has been putting in an extra ?10 billion into the NHS annually.

That's a significant increase inness iffing and also the NHS is working

off its own bottom-up plans on how to improve, that means bringing

health care and social care together. Christine, how are Labour

trying to improve the situation? Well, Labour have got a variety of

ideas. They will be set out in the manifesto which is being published

on Tuesday of next week. But one of the issues that really affects my

residents in Bexhill and Battle is the join-up between social care and

the health service and that is really, really important, that we

make sure that there is a seamless service... More of an integrated

thought process. More of that. But your party wants to see

significantly more money being put into the NHS, doesn't it? Where will

it come from? ? As I say, you will see that all in the manifesto, John

McDonnell has committed to costing all the policies that will be in

there and I know that there will be policies on the NHS and also saying

how the money will be raised. We know that, for example, there will

be increases in corporation tax and taxation for the very, very top

earners. So it will be more taxation in order to spend more on the NHS

under a Labour Government. But not from ordinary working people. It

will be from the few. Ukip, how would Ukip sort out the NHS

situation? Well, Ukip is going to do a lot. Ukip the NHS, is something we

know, it is the pride of the nation and Ukip hopes to keep it that way.

Ukip is putting in additional 3,000 - ?3 billion every year into getting

more staff... Where is the money coming from, from coming out of the

evident U? From coming out of the EU eventually but there is a measure

before we come out of the EU and it is going to be through health

insurance and that will be, you know, health insurance for people

coming into the country. The a ban on health tourism. People coming

into the UK and using the NHS? Yes, people coming in and using the NHS.

There will be a stop on that and people will be required to have

health insurance which will provide more care and give the NHS a better

service for the people. So this is what Ukip is wanting to do. And this

is essentially what the NHS needs in order to get... It would be nice if

we could have a whole 25 minutes to go into this in more depth. It is

almost impossible to get across all the aspects in T thank you for being

with us and outlining some of the policies your parties will be

putting forward given the opportunity. You can see a great

deal more about the position that all the main parties will be doing

on the BBC's website. There's more information

about the position of all the main parties on this issue on the BBC

Website bbc.co.uk/election. We'll be back later

with more from Chatham. The family of a woman

who was stabbed to death in Canterbury last year,

have received an apology from the country's top lawyer

for the way the case was handled. The Attorney General says

he was deeply troubled by a series of mistakes made

by the Crown Prosecution Service during the sentencing

of those responsible As Robin Gibson reports her

family have now been told For the families of the victims of

this brutea murder, even support from the Attorney-General feels like

a hollow victory. He's agreed the families of Natasha sad letter Ellis

and Simon Gorecki, murdered in Canterbury more than a year ago,

received shabby treatment from the Crown Prosecution Service. -- the

families of Natasha Sadler. It is shocking. Somebody has to be

made accountable. We will fight on, it won't deter us. The

Attorney-General agrees. In a letter Jeremy Wright said:

The families are foo you arous they ran out of time to appeal against

sentences against two accomplices. One was sentenced to a year and one

ten weeks for helping to conceal the knife used. It is unusual for the

attorney to speak in such strong terms. Clearly the family concerned

weren't well-served by the Crown Prosecution Service and it is

appropriate, isn't it, that he should aapproximately Is on their

approximate approximate behalf. The two were stabbed after a housemate's

row. The which willer was this man, Foster Christian who was sentenced

to a life with not less than 30 years' tariff. The family feel they

were let down by the prosecution service who should have told them

they had only 28 days to appeal The 28 days past and then - I'm sorry,

it's too late now but he has to be held accountable. The sentences

stand but the families are now hoping for a judicial review.

A teenager accused of killing his stepfather with a single punch,

in a row over pocket money, is no longer facing a murder charge.

18-year-old Douglas Herridge is still accused of manslaughter,

following the death of former national squash champion

Colin Payne at their home in Dartford last November.

The teenager claims he acted in self-defence.

Tributes have been paid to a Romanian man whose body was found

Razvan Sirbu, who was 21, was discovered in the Loose

Nehir Armstrong believes she was one of the last

She stopped to talk to him in the early hours of Saturday

She said news of his death has left her devastated.

I can't stop crying since I feel guilty.

Do something different maybe, handle differently, maybe.

Maybe I have to make sure he is all right.

Maybe I should follow him, I don't know what to do but,

Piers Hopkirk is in Tovil for us now.

What more do we know about the victim, Razvan Sirbu? Detectives are

trying to build up a picture of his life. We know he came to the UK last

October. That he's from Romania. We know that he has family in the

Gravesend area and that he'd worked there for a recruitment firm. He'd

also worked in warehouses around Maidstone and Paddock Wood. At times

we know he'd slept rough. He had come to this specific spot in Tovil

less than a day or so before his death, presumably and ironically,

for the peace and tranquillity it provides. Detectives are now trying

to work out why it was he met such a violent end here.

That's it from me in the Studio, we can cross back now

Thank you very much, Natalie. It is a beautiful evening here. We have

been hearing some of the views of the political parties. I'm pleased

to say that Stephen Lloyd from the Liberal Democrats has pulled up into

the car park. We will be able to have a conversation with him in a

moment. But what are your thoughts of what the politicians are saying?

Is it in tune your thinking or hopelessly out of step? Where better

to gauge that, than at a dance class.

One, two, three, four, five and check.

The snap election wrong-footed everyone.

The carefully choreographed campaigns are now in full swing.

It's a familiar routine, but is it one that voters can follow?

I don't think "excited" would be the word.

Strictly speaking, elections are won on policies like health,

education and the economy, but this time round, the real

judges, the voters here in Medway, have another category in mind.

Chasse, forward, point, turn, turn, turn, turn.

Unfortunately Brexit is a big issue because, well,

If we get a good deal with Europe, obviously everything else benefits.

Health and education is probably more important to me than Brexit,

in an ordinary election, but I think Brexit at the moment

So in the early rounds Brexit may have stolen the show

but the old favourites never go away.

I think we're doing fantastically considering how bad it is.

I have never had a problem with the NHS around here.

The doctors' surgeries, to be fair, if you want to get an appointment

you have to ring up and it could be two, three weeks.

Knowing that the NHS is going to be there in five or ten years' time

Obviously if it is not, we have to pay for it

all and we become very Americanised, and it's going to be

But this contest has only just started.

There are four more weeks for the political

parties to persuade voters to take their lead.

I'm pleased to stay that Stephen Lloyd from the Liberal Democrats, as

I said he'd made it clear, got through the traffic. Thank you very

much for joining us this evening. Thank you, my pleasure. We have been

talking about the NHS and the fact that it would appear to be creeking

at the seams on the margins. The Liberal Democrats are the only party

that have said up front would you put a penny on income tax to pay for

more services in the NHS? Absolutely. Funnily enough, first of

all sorry I'm late but listening on the news coming here, the recent

report shows that the NHS is borse than it has been for the last five

years, I'm sure you have already covered that. I'm pleased with the

Liberal Democrat position. Three key things, one, putting a penny on

income tax, so it is costed, an extra ?6.9 billion which includes

social care and mental health. People know that's the sort of money

that is necessary for the NHS. The second thing I'm pleased about is

that the income for social care. Everyone out there knows it is not

just the hospital issue it is the issues in social care. We are

putting together a package that covers both and last but not least,

we recognise it is bigger than politics, frankly bigger than party

politics, Norman Lambe our former Health Minister has put forward a

very clear proposal, before the snap election was called where he and a

few Conservatives and Labour, cross-party went into the Department

of health and said - come on, we have to sit down and sort this out

together. In electoral terms, saying you want people it pay more money,

do you think you want people it pay more money,

do you on the NHS, I do. We all know that Labour's thing of another poach

of the top 5%, I think about their 12th pledge on the top 5% doesn't

work. What people understand with the health service is we all need it

and use it and I think everyone would be prepared to contribute that

bit extra to make it work. Thank you for being with us this evening.

Let's turn to Helen Catt our Political Editor. We have heard from

the political parties this eepg, why is the NHS such a big issue? As

Stephen said, I think it is because everybody uses it, and usually at a

time in their life when they are quite vulnerable or emotional. It is

something everyone has a real emotional connection W added to

that, we've had a lot of big figures bandied around. ?6 billion from

lakes ?7 from the UK, ?3 billion from the Ukip and ?from the

Conservatives. But how do we pay for the NHS, with an annual budget of

?120 billion, will these things add that much. We have not heard from

the green Party this evening, we will talk to them in other

programmes. They have yet to launch their policies. They've talked about

ending private involvement in the NHS. They've also made some specific

mental health pledges this week, saying they would guarantee access

to psychological therapy within 28 days for everyone that needs it.

Before we get to the end of the programme, lets anticipate find out

what will be going on with the weather. Sarah Keith Lucas is with

us here in Chatham. And fine end to the day here in

Chatham. Across the region a decent day. Temperatures up to 21. There

has been a bit more cloud that has been creeping in over the past few

hours and out of that cloud a few showers, too. So that's how it looks

at the moment. We have showers around along the south coast. Most

of us dry as we end the day. Tomorrow a similar sort of day. It

is looking humid and there will be chat scattered showers around. Back

to this evening and evernight we'll continue to see showers moving away

northwards T could bring with them the odd rumble the thunder. Hit and

miss and not everywhere seeing the showers. That's how we start the day

tomorrow. Showers from the word go. But looking frost-free, a milder

start than it was this morning. Through the day tomorrow, some

showers through the middle of the day could be heaviy, potentially

under thisry and temperatures up to 17 or 18 but they fade away through

the course of Friday night. So, by the time when we get to Saturday

morning, it is looking frost-free once again and set is going to be a

pretty decent day, dry, plenty of sunshine on offer and temperatures

doing reasonably well. 17 or 18. A bit of useful rain overnight

Saturday into Sunday and Sunday another largely dry but a

fresher-feeling day. Sarah, thank you very much. Well, that's it from

us for this evening. Straight after this we'll be doing

a Facebook live event with our political editor Helen Catt

and with our health You can get involved

on facebook.com/bbcsoutheasttoday. But for now from us in Chatham. Good

evening. Ukip created history

and won us all Brexit. I grew up on a council estate, where

everybody there just voted Labour.