25/04/2017 South Today - Oxford

In tonight's programme: In pain and struggling to cope.

Claims a shortage of carers is leaving people

with mutliple sclerosis without the support they need.

Also, how firecrews in Oxfordshire will be helping paramedics treat

And later on: The soaring numbers of red kites,

the birds of prey now flying high after being once on the

A third of people with multiple sclerosis say they're

not receiving enough, or any, support.

The results of a survey by the MS Society have just been published.

We'll be hearing from the charity in a couple of minutes.

First though, we've been to meet one man and says he isn't

getting the care he needs, after being told there

Brian Cook, who lives in Lower Heyford near Bicester,

Stuart Tinworth has been to meet him.

Brian's been living with MS since 2004.

He's gone from walking, to a wheelchair, and can no

He also says he no longer has guarantees for continuing care,

It is hardly a way to live not knowing what is going to happen next

week or the week afterwards. I am not sleeping very well. I think I

had about three hours sleep for each of the previous four nights.

Brian says his care package ended at the start of this month.

Care agencies are taking on more work with less and less carers. They

are working on zero our contracts and they are being paid ?1 more than

the living wage and they can earn that sort of money working in a

shop. The MS Society says

Brian isn't alone. government for social

care is to blame, claiming providers are struggling

to recruit and keep The county council however

is insistant it's trying to help. In a statement they stress:

Mr Cook has not been left And sufficient funds

are in place, so he can And they add - we will work with him

to look at alternatives in the short-term, whilst sufficient

care is identified. The council says it's also investing

?1 million in a range of initiatives aimed at strengthening the social

care market, with new training and measures to improve worker

recruitment but concerns remain. the corner for new retail projects

at Westgate and Bicester village, the carer market could be

squeezed further still. The Multiple Sclerosis Society has

surveyed more than 11,000 people Earlier I spoke with

Genevieve Edwards from the charity and asked her how common

Brian's story is. I'm afraid Brian is not alone, by no

means. And it is really distressing to see the situation he has been in

and how he has really struggled to get the care he needs. Our research

shows we hear from people with MS every single day that this is

happening up and down the country and what we are seeing now is that a

third of people in the most severe needs are struggling to get even

basic support like help with dressing and washing. What else did

your survey reveal? The needs of people with MS had been going up

steadily and yet the care that is available to them has been reducing

and some specifics around that, we found that if you are a young person

with MS, you were less likely to get the care that you need around social

care needs which is really distressing. And we are also seeing

that more and more people are trying to fund their own care or they are

turning to friends and family for help, or they are just not coping.

What more needs to be done? If an arm of the care workers there, what

can be done? Part of this solution is funding. Of course everyone talks

about the need for funding for social care but it is a really vital

part. We have had an extra 2 billion in the budget this year but that is

not going to last. We need a long-term sustainable funding

solution but the other point that you raise and this is something that

Brian has experienced is that there are quite often just not enough

trained, skilled care workers so we really need to focus on that

workforce issue to make sure we have people that can come into those jobs

and to make sure that people like Brian can have needs met.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a man charged with a racial

attack on a pregnant woman in Bletchley.

David Gallacher was due before Aylesbury Crown Court but failed

He's accused of assaulting a woman in Bletchley,

Gallacher, who's 37 and of no fixed abode, is also charged with three

counts of assaulting a police officer.

Homeless people in Oxford will be allowed to live, temporarily,

The Open House movement has previously set up home in a vacant

restaurant in Summertown, a disused powerstation

in Osney and a former car show room in Iffley.

Last night Oxford City Council approved proposals to allow

the squatters to stay in vacant buildings owned by the council.

Firefighters are treating a fire at a derelict building

Specialist fire investigation officers are working with police

to work out what caused the fire on the Curbridge Road overnight.

The roof collapsed, making conditions difficult

The building is owned by the Diocese of Birmingham.

Oxfordshire's fire service is helping ambulance crews get

The six month trial will see fire crews aiding paramedics

in medical emergencies, like when they need

Before now, police would aid ambulance crews when necessary.

Today's scenario in Didcot was a mockup, but Darren Weston has

been called to numerous real life emergencies.

He's saved many lives, but often the issue isn't

so much treating patients as getting to them.

The problem in gaining access into modern properties these days is

harder than ever before. We could be faced with an unconscious patient

and capable of -- incapable of answering the door. Every second can

literally make a difference to the outcome and survival.

If you need to get to the first floor from outside, fire crews

The three emergency services are now working together

Police or ambulance crews can call on the fire brigade for help.

It is really important and one of the main reasons is for the people

out there. We want to make sure we deliver the best service for them

and times are hard. We have to make the most of the money that is made

available to us. By working together, we can deliver better

services, simpler and smarter and cheaper for the public.

The six month trial has started well.

Local fire crews have been called to 15 emergencies

If successful, the three-way partnership is likely

There are more than 6,000 suicides in the UK each year,

that's about one suicide every two hours and at least ten times that

Now a woman who founded of a suicide crisis centre in Gloucestershire

wants to open a similar personalised service in Oxford.

Joy Hibbins set up her charity after struggling to access support

Five years ago, Joy Hibbins had a traumatic

experience which left her with post traumatic stress disorder

Having struggled to get the right support herself,

a year later she set up her own suicide crisis centre.

Today at St Edmund Hall in Oxford, she told mental health professionals

about the personalised service her team provides.

We work very tenaciously but it is also the way our services are set

up. As well as having a suicide crisis centre where people can come

and be safe, we also do home visits so we are actually going out to

people who are at risk and I have got absolutely no doubt that going

out to people when they are at risk is one of the reasons why all of our

clients have survived. The Mental Health

Foundation say suicide is the leading cause of death

among young people. While four times as many

men die as a result But Joy says men are seeking help -

50 to 80% of her clients are men. Tom was only 22 when he thought

about taking his own life. A serious car accident

followed by his brother's Everything just seemed so dark and I

didn't have anyone else to speak to. And I found suicide crisis online

just by googling help for suicidal thoughts and things like that. The

next day, I went along. The main thing that I got from it was the

one-to-one. I went in and I saw joy and she would sit with me for as

long as I needed. It was incredible to have that human connection.

Joy says one-to-one support in a safe environment

with specially trained councillors could have a significant reduce

the numbers of suicides each year and hopes to one day see independent

crisis centres like hers in every county.

Oxfordshire's longest-serving Member of Parliament has today

made his final speech in the House of Commons.

Labour's Andrew Smith will stand down at the general

He's represented Oxford East for 30 years.

In his final speech, he thanked his supporters,

his constituents and his neighbours in Blackbird Leys.

I would like to say a huge thank you to all those who have helped me

serve for 30 years for the wonderful constituency of Oxford East. My

family and friends. My neighbours. Our party members and supporters. My

trade union. My office staff and party organisers across the years.

And most of all, my constituents. Thank you.

A man from Oxfordshire has completed a 1,500 mile walk across India

63-year-old Patrick Baddeley is raising funds for Future Hope,

a charity providing opportunities to vulnerable children in Kolkata.

Patrick first became aware of the charity

when he accompanied his daughter Katie on a school trip to India.

Works by distinguished sculptors from South Oxfordshire will go up

The collection includes images of Churchill,

the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and Freddy Mercury.

They were sculpted by Franta Belsky and Irena Sedlecka, who lived

Estimates for the sculptures range from 100 to ?10,000.

I'll have the headlines at 8pm and a full bulletin at 10:30.

Now more of today's stories with Sally Taylor.

concerning and I will be very happy to look at that issue.

Later in sport, Lewis Coombes is in training.

We are on the bikes in Portsmouth to see how football is helping the

local community. The Conservative MP

for Chichester, Andrew Tyrie, has announced he's standing down

from Parliament at Mr Tyrie, who is 60,

has been the MP there for 20 years, and says he will remain deeply

committed to public service, and hopes he is young enough

to contribute in other ways How would you like a litter bin that

told you when it needed emptying? Or a smoke alarm that

knew the difference Well, councils in the South

are joining forces to build a new network for the emerging

"Internet of Things". The aim is to make the network

available to companies as an alternative to wi-fi

or bluetooth as our political editor We live in the wireless era. Our

phones connect us to the Internet, but what if everything we use could

feed us data about what is -- what it is up to. An oven could tell you

how long it has been on. It is perfect for smoke alarms. Attach it

to your bike in case somebody ran off with it. Students at Eastleigh

College found it easy to think up uses for the database of the

Internet of Things. The South East will have a network of devices. The

Hampshire Fire Service and local councils are developing an

information superhighway. With a mobile network, fantastic, gets

everywhere. With a mobile network, to power a device for more than a

couple of weeks, we need to carry up battery with us. Southampton council

has experimented with bins that tell staff when they are full and they

see huge potential for the Internet of Things. You have elderly people

who might be a bit in the firm, and you can have detectors in the

housing to see if they are moving around or whether somebody needs to

see if they are OK. Using technology to solve all problems is what we are

about. You can see how far smartphones have spread and become

part of daily life. The Internet of Things is likely to find its own

uses just as quickly. The network is already being installed and it is

down to the imagination of its users to see what could be connected in

the future. Once on the verge of extinction,

the red kite is a bird that's now thriving -

particularly in urban Reading. Many people are choosing to feed

them, encouraging them New research from the University

of Reading shows how the huge birds of prey are adapting to live

alongside us, just as we're getting more used to seeing them

wheeling in the skies above. Red kites circling high,

and swooping low, have become a common sight in built-up

parts of Berkshire. Scientists initially thought they'd

moved into urban areas roadkill for the carrion

birds to feed on. But we surveyed, there's

very little roadkill, our local councils are very good

at keeping the streets clean, and instead we did questionnaires,

we asked local people what they do. We found that, certainly well over 1

in 20 local households here in Reading have fed red kites

at one point or another, and so it's that feeding

that's attracting them in. It's a very regular occurrence

to drive through some of the suburbs of reading and see a dozen,

two dozen red kites circling over a house where people clearly

have been feeding them. As many as 400 red kites now

regularly seek food, like scraps of chicken on the bone,

in urban Reading. Their sheer size, and the fact

that they often fly in groups, means they're unmissable -

and research has also found both adults and children can identify

red kites more easily The breed was virtually

wiped out in the British Isles in the '60s and '70s,

mainly because they'd eaten poisons and pesticides that these

days are no longer used. Conservationists began

re-introducing breeding pairs to the wild more

than 20 years ago. What the red kite shows

is that we have an icon of conservation success,

where people made the effort, reintroduced the species,

and now it's in our skies over much of southern England,

it's very widespread here. Experts say there's no real downside

to having so many red kites And their population is thriving -

with or without us feeding them. Beautiful birds and great pictures

there. Hampshire firefighters will soon be offering exercise classes

for the over-65ss. The course is being funded by the local NHS. One

for us for the future! Shall we start with the football,

because it is about the good that clubs can do and celebrating that.

The clubs get a bit of bad press, the prices they charge, moving

matches around to suit the TV schedules, but it is time to give a

positive spin on this. All 72 English Football League clubs

came together today to showcase the positive impact the sport has

within communities up The EFL Trust's Day of Action saw

players engage with support groups and activities at a number

of our clubs here in South. I joined Pompey defender

Christian Burgess at a cycling Wheels For All is just one scheme

run by Pompey in the Community. Each week a team of volunteers help

over 100 people in the area Little bit hard to spear but -- to

steer bet it is good. Libby thought her days

of cycling were behind her. Motorcycle accident 25 years ago,

but I actually lost my leg 12 years ago. Riding a normal bike is quite

hard so using a hand one is so much easier. I actually didn't know this

place existed but now I do I will be here, definitely.

An affiliation with Portsmouth Football Club has

helped to attract both sponsorship and awareness.

Pompey in the Community can advertise us, they have the

wherewithal to make people aware that we exist and we are trying to

get enough money together to why extra bicycles. There are 72

community trusts at each of the English football league clubs.

Events were held at all Football League clubs in the South today,

in Reading defender Paul McShane visited

Schemes like this and the one in Portsmouth further proof

You have just done a few laps on the bike, what was that like? I am a bit

out of breath. It was good fun, people riding around and it means

they come out and have a bit of exercise and it is great to be part

of it. Southampton take centre stage

in the race for the Premier League title tonight as they travel

to current leaders Chelsea. Manager Claude Puel,

who is yet to pick up a league win against a top-six side,

says his side will relish it. To play against a great team

like Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, it's a good

motivation, and it's important to Full match commentary on BBC Radio

Solent. Surrey batsman Jason Roy has been

named in the England cricket squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy

and South Africa series. There was no place in the squad

for Hampshire's Liam Dawson. Eight teams will compete

in the One Day competition, to be held in England and Wales

at the beginning of June. Hampshire cyclist Dani King

is contemplating competing for Wales The Olympic gold medallist

from Hamble represented England at Glasgow 2014, but now meets

the qualification criteria The South may not be

the heartland of rugby league, but a Hampshire-raised player has

won his first call-up Mike McMeeken, who's

from Basingstoke, now plays He moved north after learning his

trade with London Broncos. McMeeken is part of the England

squad to face Samoa That is great because of the new

think of rugby being a northern game but good luck to Mike.

They made history as the first all-female crew to sail

in the Whitbread Round the World Race.

The achievement made the yacht Maiden and her skipper

But Maiden fell on hard times and was discovered

But she's to have a new lease of life.

Today the boat arrived back in Southampton,

where she'll undergo a full restoration, as Steve

27 years after sailing into the history books on board

Maiden, Tracy Edwards and some of her crew were reunited

with the famous yacht that helped them change so many perceptions.

They were the first all-female crew to complete the Whitbread round the

world race. They had been written off but nine months later they were

receiving a heroine' welcome. People did come round, a few people said,

they will never do it, and they came to me and said, proved wrong, I

admit it. Only in England could this happen, great maritime nation.

For everyone on board, it was a life-changing experience.

Everybody said no, and we were built with that funny little button that

made us carry on. After passing through many

hands over the years, the yacht was found abandoned

in the Seychelles. The plan is to carry out

a bow-to-stern renovation, and then she'll be used

by the Maiden Factor project to promote girls'

education around the world. I was expelled from school when I

was 15, through away and education that was handed to me on a plate.

Now I know that 69 million girls worldwide are denied an education so

I do quite a bit of work with girls' educational charities, and I thought

we could use Maiden to promote girls' education, and when we do our

world tour, after the Restoration, that is what we will be doing.

It was backing from the Jordanian royal family that

got Maiden and her crew on the start line for the Round the World just

over a quarter of a century ago - and now they're also supporting

We were a bit of a fairy tale to some extent and this is the next

chapter of the fairy tale, and it is a great one.

Great to see the girls back and lovely that Maiden is going to go on

to a new adventure. We will be following it on South Today.

You just said we have had practically everything today in

terms of weather. Whether bingo, frost, sunny spells,

blue skies, sleep... -- sleet. We have seen some hefty downpours,

more to come in the forecast. We have seen a little of everything

just about today but boy has it felt cold. We have a bit more of this

arctic air mass for the next 24 hours or so. You can see the yellow

colours working in towards Thursday and Friday of this week. -- the next

48 hours. We will start to see the showers clearing tonight but this

evening there are one or two of them and they are on the heavy side as

well. We could see that wintry theme to them so some sleet and hail still

to be had. Temperature wise we are looking at low as close to freezing

in many spots across our region. We could see a touch of frost

particularly through western parts first thing tomorrow morning. Chilly

and bright start to the day, cloud bubbling up, and showers working

their way back in a little sooner than they did today. They could he

heavy, thunder, hail, sleet all a possibility, and the winds will be

whipping up as well. Temperature wise we are looking at 11 or 12

degrees the high. Those showers will tend to fade away in the evening and

we have clear skies across the region through tomorrow night. It

looks like Wednesday will be the coldest night of the week, we expect

a widespread frost and one or two pockets of mist and fog. Thursday,

bit of a chilly start but we will start to see the cloud thickening as

this weather front sinks southwards. That will bring patchy at wrecks of

rain but it is the start of the slightly milder conditions, so

becoming less cold through the course of the day on Thursday. The

summary for the next few days, chilly conditions with one or two

turning milder towards the tail end turning milder towards the tail end

of next week. Cyclone, tornado. While you were

doing before cast I was desperately trying to think of other words. We

are back tomorrow at 6:30pm. Good buy.