:00:00. > 3:59:59Gove and Labour's Brexit Secretary Kier Starmer as well. Join me now on
:00:00. > :00:00.BBC Two. Welcome to South Today.
:00:00. > :00:00.Coming up... The downgrade of maternity services
:00:00. > :00:08.at Banbury's Horton Hospital is extended as the NHS
:00:09. > :00:10.in Oxfordshire discusses Also name dropping -
:00:11. > :00:17.can a new approach to recruitment engender gender equality
:00:18. > :00:23.in the science industry? And there is the risk
:00:24. > :00:25.of a frost this week. By the end of the week,
:00:26. > :00:27.it turns cloudier. I'll have the weather
:00:28. > :00:31.for the week ahead shortly. It's been announced the downgrade
:00:32. > :00:40.of maternity services at the Horton Hospital in Banbury could be made
:00:41. > :00:42.permanent under new plans The temporary move -
:00:43. > :00:45.made on safety grounds - sparked anger from campaigners
:00:46. > :01:02.last summer. It will now continue
:01:03. > :01:04.until at least March. Expectant mothers, needing doctors
:01:05. > :01:06.at present, have to travel The extended travel time has led
:01:07. > :01:10.to the MP for Banbury, Victoria Prentis, urging patients
:01:11. > :01:12.to log their journey And it's not just maternity
:01:13. > :01:15.services that are affected. Chrissy Ansell from Banbury makes
:01:16. > :01:17.the 60 mile round trip to the John Radcliffe each week
:01:18. > :01:20.in order to visit her family at the oncology department.
:01:21. > :01:22.Matt Graveling's travelled with her. Talk me through the way that we're
:01:23. > :01:26.going to go to the hospital today. I think it's best if we go
:01:27. > :01:29.on the A4260, because the motorway is 12 miles longer, but also it gets
:01:30. > :01:32.chock-a-block with the A34 coming on it.
:01:33. > :01:33.Right. You were saying that the Horton
:01:34. > :01:39.was somewhere you had to use yourself not too long ago?
:01:40. > :01:42.That's right. It was just before Christmas
:01:43. > :01:48.and I had the unfortunate accident where I fell out of the loft,
:01:49. > :01:55.and the loft ladder went in my leg, which cut it open pretty badly
:01:56. > :01:57.and was bleeding profusely. I wouldn't have got to the JR.
:01:58. > :02:00.I wouldn't be alive today. So we're just coming
:02:01. > :02:02.through Adderbury now, Chrissy. Let's talk about your local
:02:03. > :02:07.MP, Victoria Prentis - she's had quite a lot to say
:02:08. > :02:10.on this matter. And she wants people
:02:11. > :02:13.to record their journey times. I hope to be able to feed this
:02:14. > :02:19.information into the consultation as real evidence of what time it
:02:20. > :02:22.really takes people to get to the Radcliffe and to get
:02:23. > :02:24.to their appointment, rather than just taking
:02:25. > :02:26.things off Google Maps. The journey times are
:02:27. > :02:30.an important factor. Although the population
:02:31. > :02:35.in Banbury's grown, medical sciences has advanced,
:02:36. > :02:38.people are getting older, but the distance hasn't changed.
:02:39. > :02:45.It's still the same distance. So wee're just leaving
:02:46. > :02:47.Dennington now. We've had been driving
:02:48. > :02:50.for just over 20 minutes. We probably could have got
:02:51. > :02:53.to the Horton and back again, if we were going there,
:02:54. > :02:56.but we're going to the John Radford. How long do you expect the rest
:02:57. > :02:58.of this journey to take I would say another
:02:59. > :03:03.25 minutes minimum. If I was sat here as one
:03:04. > :03:06.of the decision-makers, I would say, "Think very carefully
:03:07. > :03:15.about what you are doing. I'm sure there are other
:03:16. > :03:21.places you could cut cost, So we're just coming
:03:22. > :03:31.into the John Radcliffe now. It's 12.24, almost exactly 50
:03:32. > :03:33.minutes since we left If it took us the same time back,
:03:34. > :03:37.then we could've gone And of course we've still got
:03:38. > :03:41.to find a parking space. Yes, that's right and it can
:03:42. > :03:44.take as much as an hour, Well, the downgrade at the Horton
:03:45. > :03:53.comes as the first part of a major consultation into Oxfordshire's
:03:54. > :03:56.wider health services is launched. ?200 million of savings has to be
:03:57. > :04:03.found by 2021 by the county's Katharine DaCosta has been
:04:04. > :04:05.looking at the details. Well, it seems that the idea's
:04:06. > :04:08.to centralise more services to the John Radcliffe Hospital
:04:09. > :04:10.in Oxford. Now, that's not going to be good
:04:11. > :04:13.news for people campaigning to keep Health bosses stress
:04:14. > :04:16.they are investing in the Horton. It'll become a centre
:04:17. > :04:19.for diagnostics and outpatient appointments, so that patients can
:04:20. > :04:24.be seen and treated closer to home. Under the plans, though,
:04:25. > :04:26.most seriously ill patients would be transferred to Oxford and maternity
:04:27. > :04:29.services may be permanently downgraded, because
:04:30. > :04:35.of staff shortages. Acute stroke services could also
:04:36. > :04:38.transfer to Oxford to make it a large specialist unit
:04:39. > :04:43.for the whole region. Meanwhile, the overall strategy
:04:44. > :04:46.is to keep people out of hospital, As such, 146 beds
:04:47. > :04:51.have already closed. Another 48 are
:04:52. > :04:53.earmarked for closure. We've only seen these proposals,
:04:54. > :04:56.we've only had them for a matter of hours, but what reaction
:04:57. > :04:58.has there been? Well, some of the concerns
:04:59. > :05:00.are that this consultation's in two parts and that,
:05:01. > :05:03.actually, many of the changes are interlinked.
:05:04. > :05:07.Also, it's 48 pages long. Some feel the sheer size of it
:05:08. > :05:10.will put many people off engaging Healthwatch Oxfordshire has said
:05:11. > :05:16.that many of the changes have already started to be put in place
:05:17. > :05:18.before the public's They've already closed down beds
:05:19. > :05:26.in the JR and they've closed down They've done that before
:05:27. > :05:33.the consultation starts, I mean, if there's a big swell
:05:34. > :05:41.of public opinion against it, is it actually going
:05:42. > :05:45.to make any difference? Well, the second phase
:05:46. > :05:48.is expected to start in May - looking at A, children's services
:05:49. > :05:52.and community hospitals - with the fear that,
:05:53. > :05:54.to make more savings, more community hospitals
:05:55. > :05:57.may have to close. We'll have more detail and more
:05:58. > :06:01.reaction on tomorrow's South Today. Katharine DaCosta,
:06:02. > :06:04.thank you very much. 14 council-run day care centres
:06:05. > :06:07.for elderly and disabled people have been recommended
:06:08. > :06:10.for closure in Oxfordshire. The county council is proposing
:06:11. > :06:12.the closures in order Under the plans, funding
:06:13. > :06:19.for privately-run services would also be cut by hundreds
:06:20. > :06:22.of thousands of pounds, but more If anyone were to say
:06:23. > :06:27.that it is most definitely a long-term solution would not
:06:28. > :06:31.perhaps be being realistic, but what we are doing is,
:06:32. > :06:34.as of today, making sure that the service we have
:06:35. > :06:37.in Oxfordshire is giving the Oxfordshire people
:06:38. > :06:40.what they need. The UK Atomic Energy Authority is
:06:41. > :06:43.hoping to increase gender equality Those hiring people wouldn't see
:06:44. > :06:49.names at the shortlist stage, to try and stop "unconscious
:06:50. > :06:56.bias" against women. It's part of measures
:06:57. > :06:58.being trialled at its Culham base to increase the number of women
:06:59. > :07:01.going into the industry. At Culham's nuclear fusion
:07:02. > :07:04.experiment jet, they can heat plasma to 100 million degrees -
:07:05. > :07:06.hotter than the sun. But when it comes to getting
:07:07. > :07:09.women into science, Currently, 10% of engineers and 15%
:07:10. > :07:16.of scientists here are women. The UK Atomic Energy Authority says
:07:17. > :07:19.it's an imbalance they're What needs to change is the culture
:07:20. > :07:26.and for it to become normal, for it to become a nonevent
:07:27. > :07:29.that you are a woman in You're just a scientist,
:07:30. > :07:33.you're an engineer, you're not a female scientist
:07:34. > :07:35.or a female engineer. Alex Davis is a process
:07:36. > :07:37.engineer at Culham. She thinks women are being put
:07:38. > :07:39.off jobs in science You give boys Lego and Meccano
:07:40. > :07:45.and you give girls suddenly, you've raised an entire
:07:46. > :07:51.generation of people who are conditioned to think,
:07:52. > :07:53.these are my hobbies, these are my interests,
:07:54. > :07:55.these are what I want The UK Atomic Energy Authority has
:07:56. > :08:01.now signed up to a gender equality accreditation scheme
:08:02. > :08:03.to try to attract more women into It wants to make its labs
:08:04. > :08:10.more female-friendly. Some of the tangible things that
:08:11. > :08:12.you can do are gender-blind recruitment practices
:08:13. > :08:16.at the shortlisting stage. This is something that's been
:08:17. > :08:18.in the news recently. Family-friendly working
:08:19. > :08:22.policies, flexible working. A lack of female scientists
:08:23. > :08:25.and engineers is not just a problem at Culham Science Centre -
:08:26. > :08:29.it's happening across the country. But it's hoped measures being tried
:08:30. > :08:32.out here could encourage more women to embark on careers
:08:33. > :08:36.in this industry. Finally, how about this
:08:37. > :08:41.for a lucky escape? An 80-year-old motorist
:08:42. > :08:45.was unhurt after this car crashed into a pontoon
:08:46. > :08:51.on the River Thames in Henley. Emergency services helped free
:08:52. > :08:53.the pensioner within 10 It took two hours
:08:54. > :08:58.to recover the car. The driver was described
:08:59. > :09:01.as "a bit shocked". Weather next, starting with
:09:02. > :09:04.the regional forecast with Alexis. But that's it from us.
:09:05. > :09:06.Good night. After a nearly damp start
:09:07. > :09:08.to the week, some brighter and sunnier spells with a chance
:09:09. > :09:10.of frost at times. Towards the latter part of the week,
:09:11. > :09:13.cloud will make a return, So a mainly dry week,
:09:14. > :09:17.mainly settled, with Overnight tonight,
:09:18. > :09:20.a good deal of cloud, Temperatures in the countryside
:09:21. > :09:24.may well drop to freezing, so, where we have clearing skies
:09:25. > :09:27.for eastern parts of the region, the chance there we could
:09:28. > :09:31.have a frost first thing tomorrow. In most places, temperatures
:09:32. > :09:33.will be above freezing. But the sun will start
:09:34. > :09:38.to make an appearance. More cloud the further
:09:39. > :09:40.north and west you are The best of the sunshine down
:09:41. > :09:44.towards the south and east. In the sunny spells,
:09:45. > :09:46.temperatures will struggle to a high of just four or five Celsius,
:09:47. > :09:49.so quite a cold feeling day, especially where
:09:50. > :09:51.we have all that cloud. But the winds will be light,
:09:52. > :09:55.so pleasant in the sunshine. Through the course of tomorrow
:09:56. > :09:57.night, the cloud will disperse and we'll see clearing skies
:09:58. > :10:00.and that means one thing - a widespread sharp frost,
:10:01. > :10:03.a hard frost, in fact, first thing on Wednesday morning.
:10:04. > :10:06.A very chilly start to the day. Temperatures could start in towns
:10:07. > :10:09.and cities at minus two Celsius. In the countryside,
:10:10. > :10:12.a low of minus three Light winds first
:10:13. > :10:17.thing on Wednesday. It's a decent day, lots of sunshine,
:10:18. > :10:20.more cloud further north. That cloud may start
:10:21. > :10:22.to spill southwards The best sunshine for southern
:10:23. > :10:29.parts of the county, with temperatures on Wednesday
:10:30. > :10:31.reaching a high of three Through Thursday, high pressure
:10:32. > :10:35.still dominates our weather. It stays with us
:10:36. > :10:38.through much of the week. A weather front moving southwards
:10:39. > :10:41.will bring us more cloud. Where it's thick, the cloud,
:10:42. > :10:45.we could have the odd isolated shower, but generally,
:10:46. > :10:47.it will be dry on Thursday. Dry also through Friday,
:10:48. > :10:49.with temperatures reaching a high Looking ahead to the weekend, mainly
:10:50. > :10:56.dry but quite cloudy at times. Some brighter spells are possible.
:10:57. > :11:08.Now your national forecast. perhaps a little milder. If you like
:11:09. > :11:12.the mild weather, you'll have to head elsewhere in the country. Find
:11:13. > :11:15.out more in the national weather forecast. Our weather is going
:11:16. > :11:20.against normal expectations this week. In Highland Scotland some snow
:11:21. > :11:25.to be seen on the hills. Temperatures as high as 12 Celsius
:11:26. > :11:28.today. Over the next few days the coldest air is in the far south-east
:11:29. > :11:34.of England where there is sunshine to be had. Four or five Celsius in
:11:35. > :11:39.Kent. Differences remain over the next few days and here is why. I
:11:40. > :11:43.pressure in control of the weather. Some clear a continental air, but
:11:44. > :11:48.coming into Scotland from the Atlantic plenty of clouds around.
:11:49. > :11:49.Outbreaks of rain