27/07/2011 South Today

Hello, I'm Sally Taylor. Welcome to South Today. In tonight's programme.

Under pressure, big changes are planned for midwife services at one

of the region's main hospitals. have got people twiddling their

thumbs in one building, they are overstretched in another, let's

have more flexibility in the system. It is knots that has not happened

already. More strike action is announced as

social workers join the picket lines in Southampton.

High flyer, we meet the pilot hoping to take passengers where

they've never been before. Young boys and girls, -- like a lot of

young boys and girls, I dreamed of being an astronaut. I am pretty

close to being there now! And straight out of Wind in the

Willows, the successful campaign to reintroduce water voles to one of

#$$NEWLINE She was left in a blood soaked bed for nearly five hours

after giving birth. Amy Stitt says midwives at Portsmouth's Queen

Alexandra Hospital were too busy to help after her child was born. Now

a review of the city's maternity services is underway to get more

midwives where they're needed. Our health correspondent David Fenton

reports. No one said giving birth would be

easy. And far Amy Stitt, it wasn't. She'd be -- she lost a lot of blood,

and for nearly five hours after her daughter was born, she was left

alone on a blood soaked bed without food and drink. I was just left

there, bloody sheet and a messy room. I had waited an hour before I

asked for someone to come and help me, and they said at that they were

busy at that time but somebody would come, but they didn't. The

staff that where there were very friendly and help as much as they

could but they did not have the time. Eventually mother and baby

were moved to another ward and both are now her fine. Another day and

another new baby, born at Q 8. is much busier than it used to be,

there are more highly -- high risk women and birthrate is going up.

Also, up more unscheduled antenatal appointment as well. This hospital

has won midwife to every 28 mothers. That makes it one of the best start

maternity services in the south. The problem is, those midwives are

not always where they need to be. There are about 200 full time of

midwives in the Portsmouth area, and 90 of them work in birthing

centres where they deliver 400 babies per year. They also do many

hundreds of home visits and clinics. At the QA, there are 113 midwives

delivering 6000 babies per year. Now midwives on night shifts at the

birthing centres could be called in to the hospital if things get busy.

Our new model is to look at how we have flexible systems so that the

midwives are following the women in labour, as a priority. The last

time midwives were moved out of birthing centres, there were

protests. That has not happened yet, but the changes do not start until

January. David is here with me talking about

this. I thought the idea was they wanted more women to have babies at

home rather than at hospital? is what they are trying to do but

you know, births are unpredictable. A lot of women are turning up

unannounced at the Kuwait to have their babies along with the women

who are booked in. -- at the Q 8. That is whether midwives need to go.

I have been hearing a lot of stories of women giving birth, and

the midwives are out of the door with -- within minutes, to the next

woman. Bringing midwives in from the birthing centre will relieve

that pressure. There has been not much opposition at the moment and

some support for these plans. very much support a better use of

how we are using midwives locally. If you have got people twiddling

their thumbs in one building, and they are overstretched in another,

let's have more flexibility in the system. I think it is insane that

has not happened already. I know what some people will be thinking,

it is all about saving money, a hospital trust say it is not the

case, it is about changing the way they won the service to provide

better care for mothers and their babies. -- day run at the service.

A Brighton-based tour operator with more than 12,000 holidaymakers

currently abroad has gone into administration. Holidays 4 UK,

which also traded as Aegean Flights, sold packages and flights to Turkey

and employed 18 staff. The Foreign Office says the Civil Aviation

Authority will ensure that all customers are able to fly home as

planned and should check in for their flights as normal. Anyone

with holidays booked should get their money back.

A man has died following a collision involving four vehicles

on the eastbound M4 near Reading. The accident closed a stretch of

the motorway for several hours. The driver of a skip lorry was

pronounced dead at the scene. The UK's largest ever haul of

cocaine worth up to �300 million has been discovered on a motor

cruiser in Southampton. Just over a tonne of the drug was found after

an operation involving the authorities in the UK, Holland and

France. Six members of an international drugs ring have been

arrested in Holland. Our reporter Steve Humphrey's been shown how the

drugs were concealed. A massive haul of cocaine was

discovered on his motor cruiser, here in Southampton. This motor

cruiser has been brought across from the British Virgin Islands in

the Caribbean on a boat transporter. They spent six days searching this

motor cruiser, pulling of panels, looking in compartments. Eventually

they found the drugs were secreted back here, in special compartments,

which had been built here into the dive plat form, right at the back.

If you look at the place to hear, concealed behind the entry room --

engine room panelling, there is an entry into the diving Room platform.

Was that a moment of euphoria, when you found them? It was good to find

a significant proportion of cocaine, the packages were coming and coming.

It took quite a while to get all of the drugs out and be assured we had

all the drugs at. The UK's Board agency and their counterparts in

France and Holland say the big drug -- the big drugs seizure was

because of a counter intelligence organisation. This has taken out a

significant gang in the Netherlands which would have sought to

distribute drugs across Europe. cocaine was discovered eight weeks

ago, but the news was not revealed until Dutch police completed the

arrests of six men yesterday. They are described as members of an

international drugs ring. They will now be questioned as the

investigation continues. A Surrey girl who broke her neck

when diving into the shallow end of a friend's swimming pool has failed

in her high court bid to claim �6 million in damages. Kylie Grimes

was 18 when she went to an impromptu party in Farnham in

August 2006 and guests started using the private pool. Miss Grimes,

who is now tetraplegic, had claimed her friend's father David Hawkins

failed in his duty of care to ensure visitors were kept safe. Ben

Moore reports. This is the story of a young life

ruined. Here at court, Kylie Grimes was described as an athletic and

healthy young woman. But after a party, late at night, at a friend's

house, she was left severely disabled. On 5th August 2006, Kylie

was at the pub in Farnham. At 11pm, after hours, she went back to a

schoolmate's house, Kate Hawkins. That house was owned by her father,

David Hawkins, it was a big house, and it had a swimming pool. At some

point during the evening, Kylie Grimes dived into that pool. She

dived into the shallow End, where there was less than a metre of

water. She hit the bottom and she broke her neck. She was taken to

Frimley Park Hospital and now at 23 years of age, she is tetraplegic

and needs a wheelchair. Kylie claims she was not warned properly

about the dangers of the swimming pool. She sued David Hawkins, the

director of a forklift truck company, for �6 million, saying he

was legally responsible for the tragedy even though he was on

holiday at the time. As part of her judgment, the judge said, some

young people called to give evidence were like badly behaved

teenagers. She also rejected the version of some events given in the

witness box by Kate Hawkins, especially, that she said she had

not invited friends back to her father's house, and she had not

given people permission to swim there. Conversely, the judge

described Kylie Grimes as an impressive and courageous young

woman. But, in the end, she dismissed her case, saying she

could not accept that David Hawkins was required to adopt a paternity -

- paternalistic approach to visitors all of whom were

exercising free well. This is not the end to legal action in the case.

Kylie Grimes is also suing the trust running from the Park

Hospital in relation to her treatment. The hospital admits a

breach of duty but denies it caused her disabilities.

Still to come in this evening's South Today.

They might be small, but it's a big success story for water voles on

A taxi driver from Wokingham has told a court how he came face to

face with a gunman outside his home. Kadir Hassein claims he was the

target of a contract killing in a family dispute over land. He was

shot three times at close range outside his home in September last

year. Today jurors at Reading Crown Court heard details of a long-

running family feud over a development in Pakistan. A distant

relative, Imran Khan of Lower Early, is accused of conspiring to kill

him along with two men from Coventry. All three deny the

charges and the case continues. Unions have announced social

workers in Southampton will take part in further strike action next

week. It comes after hundreds of people who work with vulnerable

children and adults stopped work today. It's the latest move in the

row over council staff pay cuts, as Alex Forsyth reports.

Today's strike hit the heart of the care system. After 10 weeks of

walkout by bin men and street cleaners, social workers have

joined the pickets. Many for the first time ever. I have been a

social worker for 30 years, we come into the job because we care about

the people we work for. I am feeling that the work that all of

us put in is not recognised. The extra commitment, the extra mile we

go. Hundreds of people took part in the action, protesting because some

staff got a bonus because -- well some have had their pay cut. Around

50 people who work in adoption teams will stay on strike for seven

days, and there will be another for workouts -- walked out next week.

think it is sad, it is a step too far. We specifically asked the

unions to not do this and now this -- the Union has asked the social

workers to go on strike. If one child get into trouble because of

this action, we will have to look at ourselves and ask why we did it.

The strike -- striking unions say that children will not be put at

risk. This children's charity offers respite to young carers,

staff rely on regular contact with social workers. We have got a close

relationship with social services, but vulnerable children will be

especially referred to us. There could be and -- changes in

medications and dietary needs. If we do not have the social worker to

talk about these, that could cause a problem. Four everyone affected,

hope for a resolution for this dispute lies with more talks

planned next week. Strikes next week, but they have

been going on for two months, is there any end in sight? There is no

resolution in sight. Some are members have been out on strike for

a long time. It has been eight weeks for the bin men. They are not

being paid while they are on strike, but they are being supported by the

unions, they are getting strike pay and money from hardship funds. They

are still getting an income. That is expensive, isn't it, it is not

cheap to give them that money. Is it local or just national?

unions have put out requests for national donations, and the union

unite says they have been coming in. Other councils are looking at what

Southampton have been doing, cutting staff pay to save money,

and are considering doing the same, so if the unions think if they can

prevent it here perhaps they can prevent it elsewhere. From the

council's perspective, with all the national backing, the unions are in

a position to keep up the fight for some time.

A milestone was reached in the building of Southampton's new Sea

City Museum today as the highest point of the new building was

finished, known as topping out. The attraction is due to open next

April, 100 years after the sinking of the Titanic. Southampton city

council says it will be prepared to help temporarily fund the �5

million needed to complete the project if fundraisers run into

difficulty. It will also manage the venue until an operator is brought

in. If, in a time frame, there needs to be some cashflow funding

to support the completion of the project, the council has always

said very openly and clearly that we were to facilitate that until

such time as all of the funds are connected -- collected to support

this particular project was a captain. The generations to come,

we will have a magnificent -- for generations to come, we will have a

magnificent attraction. It's a creature known to

generations as Ratty in the Wind in the Willows. The water vole, to

give its proper name, has been in decline for many years. But a

project in West Sussex to increase their numbers appears to be working.

Water voles were reintroduced in Arundel six years ago and they've

been spreading across the countryside. This month people will

be given some help to spot them. Mark Sanders has more.

Being cute counts for little when you are trying to survive. The

water vole is Britain's fastest declining native mammal. The ones

who have made their home here near Arundel Castle are thriving. These

are the descendants of water voles that when we introduced in West

Sussex in 2005. 171 water voles were introduced event at the

wildfowl and wetland Trust Centre in Arundel. Since then, they have

bread and spread. Most of them, we find them here, but they are

spreading throughout the reserve, the reed bed, anywhere where there

is suitable habitat. They are spreading very well throughout the

valley. Water voles have make their boroughs in grass banks, and the

loss of this habitat has played a major part in a long-term decline.

Also, American mink which got out of fur farms are their main

predator. The RSPB is running a programme to educate people about

the water vole, to help visitors watch them, and they have put

feeding rafters for water voles on the string. A lot of people do not

realise it is here, and those who do see it automatically assume it

is a rat. The wonderful book Wind In the Willows called the water

vole Batty, and that has led to a lot of misconceptions about the

animal. Their conservation project, but this one is vital to try to

ensure water voles have a future. They are great pictures! That is

from our cameraman Trevor Adams and he was out there today.

It's space, the final frontier, for a man from Wiltshire who is set to

become the first captain to fly tourists into space. David Mackay

has been named as the chief pilot for Virgin Galactic. The company

hopes to begin commercial space flights within two years as John

Maguire reports. If you have �125,000 knocking around, in one

day, you could be fortunate enough to hear these words. Ladies and

gentlemen, this is your captain David mechanic taking -- David

Mackay speaking, you are now free to enjoy space. He has tested more

than 100 different types of aircraft, from Rolls-Royce --

Rolls-Royce engines, to jet engines, the next, rocket engines. He is

heading to California to be chief pilot for Virgin Galactic.

Typically, when I go flying, I am keyed up, depending on the aircraft

and a flight. That is the way it should be. One to get under way and

you start flying the vehicle, the birds tend to disappear and you

deal with whatever is presented to you. -- the nerves tend to

disappear. As a child of the space race, David always wanted to prove

he was made of the right stuff. Like a lot of young boys and girls,

I dreamt of being an astronaut, and I never lost hold of that dream. It

took me a bit longer than I thought it would, but I am pretty close to

getting there now! 3, 2, 1, release, release. So far he has only flown

the spacecraft a few feet of the ground in a simulator. Within a

couple of years, he could be taking six passengers into space, 360,000

feet up, for the flight of a lifetime.

I was quite happy to give it a go and tell I saw that thing falling,

and then I thought... 100 and Freddie 5000.

I don't know what happened to my application to fly it!

Yes, OK! Glorious sunshine and the search

for cricketing silverware steps up a gear this weekend with the start

of the Twenty20 quarter finals. Hampshire's game with Durham on

Sunday is well on the way to being a complete sell out. They've sold

around 10,000 tickets, with a capacity of just under 12,000.

Meanwhile, all the seats for Sussex's game with Lancashire at

Hove on Monday evening have already This is what happened in their game

today. Hampshire are already virtually relegated, miles of --

miles behind. Sussex have nudged The mercury's topping 30 and

summer's at its height. So it must be time for the football season,

and it's time for the second instalment of our football previews.

Tonight, two clubs whose storylines certainly gripped their audience

last season. One had a fairytale outcome, but the other was a

classic tearjerker. So will it be another blockbuster for fans in

Brighton and Bournemouth? Here's A football season is nine months.

But Bournemouth's campaign was settled from 12 yards. They lost

out on promotion on penalties. But in a rocky summer, they lost some

key players as well. But their manager is determined the tide will

not turn on his young side. To go out the last stage was

disappointing. I am at the same time very proud of how we read

about our business and what we achieved. Eddie Howe had taken

Bournemouth to great power its -- great height. This is Lee Howard's

moment. It is my team. A clean slate, we are excited about the day.

Adam Barrett is among the new recruits, and they have held on to

the talented Danny innings for now. If he is good enough to move on, he

will. Identity is yet. He needs to learn his trade. -- I don't think

This season, 1000 will make the journey to the outskirts of the

city. What they will find made just blow them away. -- or what they

will find there may just blow them away. Can the team built on a

League One title? I like to feel we are a championship team every week.

Then, we need to keep the consistency from last year, the

quality, and our system of play. Ambition is not limited to a new

stadium. Striker Craig Macao's missed headlines. We need to test

the team. Through halfway, I need to be able to say, it you want to

be in mid-table team? Or de wants to go and challenge for the top?

Albion's attacking flair brought the many admirers last season. They

are the dark horses for another promotion challenge in their brand

It exciting, isn't it? And of course the BBC website has

all the latest facts and figures ahead of the new season, with full

details of who's in and who's out at all the Football League clubs.

Tomorrow we continue our previews with last season's Championship

playoff finalists Reading. A few weeks ago, we showed pictures

of a group of men playing bowls to accompany a short mention about

Hampshire's Ladies team who were about to play in the final of a top

national competition. I commented that, if they won, we'd definitely

film some pictures of them. Well, here they are, winning! I've almost

been true to my word in that we didn't actually film them ourselves.

But the husband of one of the team members was there to capture the

moment the 24-strong team beat Devon 112-99 to win the John's

Trophy. Well done, ladies!

And now we have some ladies pictures! We can use them in the

future. Can I just say, you would not have

heard, when I said the temperature was topping 30, she said, that is

only in the sunlight! You got a select risk. -- as might

I bet everyone is rushing to harvest their crops!

It is all change overnight tonight and tomorrow, the rain will arrive.

These are temperatures from today, we top a high of 28 Celsius. That

is 82 degrees Fahrenheit. These were the hottest places. Overnight

tonight, the cloud will gather, and the rain will spread its way in

from the west. A weather front arriving from the Atlantic.

Increasing cloud cover, light outbreaks of rain first of all and

then heavy and persistent rate tomorrow. -- rain tomorrow. Another

uncomfortable night for sleeping. The weight -- but winds remaining

light. We could see in excess of an inch of rain tomorrow. It is

clearing western areas by the afternoon, by 4pm, there will be

drier conditions. Temperatures will be suppressed because of the rain.

A drier night tomorrow night, despite that rain, it is still

another mild night. Another uncomfortable night for sleeping

unfortunately. And then a ridge of high pressure builds in on the

Atlantic, a decent day. Winds slightly lighter, nicely conditions.

The showers are dotted around on Saturday, becoming more frequent on

Sunday, maybe with the odd rumble of thunder. Prolonged periods of

rain during the second part of the day. Looking towards the weekend,

it is going to be unsettled. Saturday will be the best day if