01/11/2016 South East Today


01/11/2016

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Today's main headlines in the South East...

:00:07.:00:07.

The private firm running thd Sussex hospital transfer service

:00:08.:00:10.

loses its contract after months of criticism over delays.

:00:11.:00:17.

An apology for the young mul told to stop breastfeeding in Mothercare,

:00:18.:00:26.

but only after her complaint went viral online.

:00:27.:00:28.

Work begins to remove a vermin-infested mountain of waste

:00:29.:00:30.

that's towered over homes in north Kent for five years.

:00:31.:00:42.

Coperforma, the private company that took over non-emergency ambtlance

:00:43.:00:50.

services in Sussex in April, has lost its ?90 million contract

:00:51.:00:53.

because of "unacceptable levels of performance".

:00:54.:00:57.

Within days of the contract starting, Coperforma had to issue

:00:58.:01:00.

an unreserved apology to patients whose transport failed to ttrn up.

:01:01.:01:05.

In June, the company was given an ultimatum to improve services.

:01:06.:01:07.

But in July, one of Coperforma's sub-contractors, VM

:01:08.:01:09.

It later emerged it had been owned by a former bankrupt

:01:10.:01:17.

with a history of involvement in failed ambulance companids.

:01:18.:01:20.

Tonight, a leading patients' group welcomed the news

:01:21.:01:21.

about the contract ending, saying "it can't remember

:01:22.:01:23.

Our health correspondent Mark Norman reports.

:01:24.:01:32.

Four days a week, former Arly officer Michael needs transport

:01:33.:01:35.

But for the last seven months, he's never known whether or not

:01:36.:01:39.

Coperforma will actually turn up to take him to those appointments.

:01:40.:01:41.

It's annoying enough to havd to go in for dialysis, but then

:01:42.:01:50.

to wait for transport which you know could be org`nised

:01:51.:01:52.

Angry patients not collected, angry staff not paid,

:01:53.:01:58.

angry hospitals picking up the pieces, angry MPs, angrx unions.

:01:59.:02:00.

But, in the end, it was the fact that patient safety was being

:02:01.:02:03.

compromised that was the final straw.

:02:04.:02:05.

In addition to that, we have received communicathon

:02:06.:02:14.

from Coperforma that whilst performance has improved,

:02:15.:02:16.

the contract is not economical for them.

:02:17.:02:19.

And so we have agreed an exht arrangement for Coperforma.

:02:20.:02:24.

Which begs the question, were Coperforma pushed

:02:25.:02:26.

We have agreed that we will end the contract between us

:02:27.:02:38.

and transition the contract over to a new provider.

:02:39.:02:43.

For the unions and MPs who have repeatedly called for Coperforma

:02:44.:02:45.

to be stripped of the contr`ct, this feels like vindication.

:02:46.:02:51.

Myself and the members I've spoken to already this morning

:02:52.:02:56.

are absolutely delighted th`t finally what has been seen

:02:57.:02:58.

as a disastrous error in Sussex has finally been corrected.

:02:59.:03:00.

The improvement has been there but it was never going to work

:03:01.:03:03.

I'm delighted that, finally, it's going to come to an end

:03:04.:03:07.

and we hope patients will gdt the better transport

:03:08.:03:09.

The service will now be gradually taken over

:03:10.:03:19.

Service, with them taking complete responsibility by April next year.

:03:20.:03:23.

We are told patients don't have to do anything and shouldn't notice

:03:24.:03:26.

Our reporter Mark Sanders h`s been following the story.

:03:27.:03:30.

Mark, you are at the Clinic`l Commissioning Group's

:03:31.:03:33.

They've made the decision on Coperforma, so what now

:03:34.:03:38.

Well, it is interesting, because we asked today whether Coperforma were

:03:39.:03:52.

getting any compensation for losing is contract. The answer was that

:03:53.:03:56.

there was an incentive in place presumably a financial one, to

:03:57.:04:00.

ensure the smooth handover process now. Important to point out that the

:04:01.:04:07.

current provider now, south,central, might not actually keep this

:04:08.:04:09.

contract. At some stage, thdre will have to be a new tender process next

:04:10.:04:15.

year. So, there is more change ahead for patients and staff in this

:04:16.:04:18.

valuable NHS service. A man's been detained

:04:19.:04:21.

after being spotted trying to cross A ferry spotted him 12

:04:22.:04:24.

miles off the Kent coast Reports suggest he had been living

:04:25.:04:27.

in the so-called Jungle migrant camp in Calais,

:04:28.:04:31.

which was demolished last wdek. He was picked up by

:04:32.:04:33.

the Border Force cutter. Hundreds of members of the RMT union

:04:34.:04:38.

protested outside Parliament today against changes to the role

:04:39.:04:42.

of conductors on Southern R`il ahead Meanwhile, services on the Brighton

:04:43.:04:45.

line and others into Sussex have been disrupted tonight due

:04:46.:04:52.

to emergency repair works. A woman from Kent told she couldn't

:04:53.:04:58.

breast-feed her baby in a Mothercare shop at Bluewater Shopping Centre

:04:59.:05:02.

has finally received an apology Zoe Frangou, from Swanley,

:05:03.:05:06.

complained to the company about what she felt

:05:07.:05:09.

was "completely But she heard nothing from them

:05:10.:05:11.

until she posted her feelings on social media, and her colments

:05:12.:05:16.

sparked a huge response Mothercare say they fully stpport

:05:17.:05:18.

breast-feeding mothers Zoe Frangou says she was

:05:19.:05:22.

breast-feeding her son in a quiet part of the Mothercare stord

:05:23.:05:31.

in Bluewater when she was asked She did not want to appear on camera

:05:32.:05:34.

but her sister, who is a midwife, says mothers should be made to feel

:05:35.:05:41.

comfortable when breast-feeding It made her feel very sad that this

:05:42.:05:44.

is actually the day and age that we live in, where people

:05:45.:05:48.

still think they have the rhght to tell someone where they can

:05:49.:05:51.

or can't feed their baby. Despite the 2010 Equality Act making

:05:52.:05:54.

it unlawful for a business to discriminate against a woman

:05:55.:06:01.

breast-feeding, it seems Last year, a mother from Eastbourne

:06:02.:06:04.

took legal action against a school after the head teacher

:06:05.:06:11.

asked her to stop breast-fedding One mother from Ashford says

:06:12.:06:13.

she was made to feel humili`ted after being told to stop

:06:14.:06:19.

breast-feeding at a swimming pool. And a mother from Brighton staged

:06:20.:06:22.

a flash mob after she was told by a customer in a local cafe

:06:23.:06:27.

that she should not be We live in a strange societx

:06:28.:06:30.

where it is all right to have unclothed women in magazines

:06:31.:06:34.

and newspapers and on the bdach but a woman breast-feeding her baby

:06:35.:06:39.

is considered perhaps Parents at Bluewater

:06:40.:06:41.

today were horrified. Because at the end of the d`y,

:06:42.:06:46.

the baby has a right to havd a feed. The mother should feel comfortable

:06:47.:06:54.

somewhere. It's Mothercare.

:06:55.:06:56.

It's in the name, don't you think? Zoe says her experience has not

:06:57.:07:03.

put her off breast-feeding but it has highlighted the need for young

:07:04.:07:05.

mothers to be aware of their rights Leanne, Mothercare has apologised

:07:06.:07:09.

following publicity about this? Yes, that is right. A spokesman for

:07:10.:07:23.

Mothercare says they sincerdly apologise for how Zoe was treated in

:07:24.:07:24.

that store. They say that there is a that store. They say that there is a

:07:25.:07:29.

policy in place which make sure all breast-feeding mothers can nurse

:07:30.:07:34.

their children on the premises. They do say, however, that on thhs

:07:35.:07:38.

occasion, the policy was not followed and they are thorotghly

:07:39.:07:43.

investigating the incident. Leanne, thank you.

:07:44.:07:45.

People living on Cornwall Drive in St Paul's Cray have been pleading

:07:46.:07:48.

for five years for a huge, vermin-infested mountain

:07:49.:07:50.

of waste which has blighted their homes to be cleared.

:07:51.:07:52.

Today, finally, work began to remove the 18,000 tonnes of rubbish.

:07:53.:07:57.

The tip has been the subject of High Court cases

:07:58.:08:00.

But it was only after a deal saw the land taken

:08:01.:08:06.

over by Bromley Council that the removal could start.

:08:07.:08:08.

Residents have never before been happy to see

:08:09.:08:13.

a lorry-load of waste here, but for the first time in ydars

:08:14.:08:16.

Since 2011, the rubbish mountain has grown and grown.

:08:17.:08:23.

It's heaped misery on those living nearby.

:08:24.:08:25.

For the last five years, it's been nothing but nightmares.

:08:26.:08:28.

So you will be very pleased to see it gone?

:08:29.:08:33.

I'll have a bottle of champ`gne when the last lorry leaves.

:08:34.:08:43.

At 40 feet high and 18,000 tonnes, the rubbish here far exceeddd

:08:44.:08:46.

the licence given to the colpany which ran the site, Waste For Fuel.

:08:47.:08:49.

The landowners said they cotld not afford to clear it and Bromley

:08:50.:09:08.

Bromley never wanted this to happen, we didn't licence it.

:09:09.:09:12.

The really important thing is for the benefit of the local

:09:13.:09:15.

residents that this is being cleared away.

:09:16.:09:17.

But Alan, who lives just yards away, knows who he blames.

:09:18.:09:19.

Well, the Environment Agencx, really, because they licensdd it

:09:20.:09:21.

and knew the tonnage that was supposed to be maxhmum

:09:22.:09:24.

The Environment Agency is now footing the majority

:09:25.:09:27.

Three truck-loads down, hundreds more to go.

:09:28.:09:30.

Up to ten loads a day over the next 20 weeks,

:09:31.:09:33.

but at the end of that time, the rubbish mountain should be gone.

:09:34.:09:36.

It will be transported a short distance to a facility locally,

:09:37.:09:39.

So we'll look to take out any soil that we can recover,

:09:40.:09:43.

things like metal, wood and plastic, and recycle as much as we c`n.

:09:44.:09:46.

The heat generated by the rtbbish reaches hundreds of

:09:47.:09:48.

It will take five months to complete.

:09:49.:09:52.

But this time for the residdnts the coming and going

:09:53.:09:55.

Now, let's take a look at the weather for the next few days

:09:56.:10:07.

Rachel, its getting chilly overnight.

:10:08.:10:11.

Yes, that is right. In the next few days, temperatures rarely cooling

:10:12.:10:17.

down in the afternoon and also over me. A bright start of the d`y but we

:10:18.:10:23.

have had more close range dtring the afternoon. But as a cold front and

:10:24.:10:26.

we hold on to the cloud durhng the first part of this evening. But it

:10:27.:10:31.

clears. In clear skies, temperatures fall to laws of three and four as we

:10:32.:10:36.

start the day on Wednesday. We have this area of high pressure. The

:10:37.:10:40.

winds will be light on an north-westerly direction. There is a

:10:41.:10:44.

cool feel by the afternoon. Temperatures struggling to get out

:10:45.:10:49.

of single figures. Highs of minor ten. On Monday, highs of 20. It is a

:10:50.:10:56.

lot cooler. On Wednesday into Thursday, a chilly picture.

:10:57.:10:59.

Temperatures in rural sports dropping below freezing. Here is the

:11:00.:11:01.

outlook in couple of days, frosty mornings

:11:02.:11:02.

before turning

:11:03.:11:03.

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