15/02/2012 Spotlight

Another rise in the region's unemployment, and experts say it is

likely to get worse before it gets better.

Good evening. Will hear one man's desperate search for a job.

Also tonight, anger over the closure of a hospital ward. As

investigations continue at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, the family

of a patient on the hope -- on the ward says they are left in the dark.

And research into strokes that is speeding up life-saving treatment.

If I had not had the treatment, it hardly bears thinking about. I

could have been an invalid forever. Unemployment in the South West is

up yet again, and economists and business leaders have told

Spotlight they fear it could be next year before the beach and sees

any significant falls. The number out of work rose everywhere in the

region. The number of people out of work and the UK rose 4.1 %. In

Cornwall it rose to 3.3 % - still below the national rate. In Devon

it rose to 2.4 %, Dorset it rose to 2% and then Somerset it was up to

2.5 %. Plymouth's rate rose to 4% and Torbay it rose to 4.9 % - the

only area here that is above the national rate.

For an unattractive building, it is proving popular. A son of -- a fine

of the Times, as unemployment rises again. Stephen Brooks has been out

of work for high here and has grown so desperate he will consider any

job. If it is soul-destroying, to be honest. All I do is come to the

jobs and to look for work, but it is difficult, and it get you down,

to be honest. Economists have told to be honest. Economists have told

Spotlight the South West face is a particular problem with reducing

unemployment. Businesses are currently reluctant to invest,

expand and create jobs. They fear of the widespread economic

uncertainty, the potential of a recession and troubles in Europe.

That is particularly true of small businesses, which tend to be

cautious. Around 90 % of companies in the South West are classed as

in the South West are classed as small.

The economic climate at the moment is very volatile. With small

businesses in particular, where there is very little fat on the

animal, if you like, businesses are very circumspect. Welcoming

visitors to Exeter's Bay South West communications is a reminder of the

old industry. This is one company which has the resources to expand,

but the economic uncertainty is preventing it. The worry is we

would invest in expansion and it would not work and we would end up

losing 30 years of hard work. You have to be very cautious. You have

worked very hard to build something for 30 years and you could lose it

tomorrow, you have to be cautious. The stresses in the region's

employment market were evident yesterday when 80 people lost their

jobs at a milk production company outside Plymouth.

Analysts the debate and disagreed about what will happen to the

economy note, but one thing they agree about is there is

considerable uncertainty. -- the economy now. That will be little

comfort for those who have become sadly familiar with places like

that. There where I spoke to economist

Kevin Butler and daft and when he thought unemployment would start to

fall in the South West. -- their way you I spoke.

In the second half of this year there are reasons to suppose things

will get better. We have seen inflation numbers coming down quite

sharply, and that means people's spending power will not be squeezed

as much as it was last year. That is a positive sign that any impact

the retail sales environment -- that might impact. It is still very

uncertain, and all the day-to-day problems we hear about in relation

to the eurozone are just discouraging businesses from

investing in ways that would apply people and create jobs.

understandably, businesses are extremely cautious at the moment.

What could you think they need to happen in order to put their money

on the line again? They need to see more stability, in

other words, instead of living from day to day, Vale would like to be

living from month to month or quarter to quarter of, they would

like to Severe order books more sustained and evidence that

recovery is coming through significantly. With the

uncertainties around markets, demand and indeed some political

uncertainties, for example the oil prices picking up again recently

reflecting political worries in the Middle East, it is putting off

making commitments and investing. It will come back into income and I

think the second half of this you should look better. Yesterday we

heard 80 more people lost their jobs at a milk processing plant in

Devon, do you think we will have a few more stories like that in the

coming months? We need to bear in mind that the on employment rate in

the South West is considerably more than the national average. There

are areas like Plymouth which is pretty much in line with the

national average for all employment, but we are seeing the pictures

where unemployment is lower across the South West. There will be

reports and stories, and companies will be facing difficulties,

because demand is quite weak in some areas, and I certainly would

not rule out more stories like the one at FarmRight over the next few

months. I hope that they will be isolated and I hope we will

continue to see a relatively low and that rate of companies going

into administration. -- relatively low and that rate. --

A man whose 92-year-old mother was a patient on a ward shut down after

staff were suspended says he is angry the hospital would release

more information. Alan Callcut is back at work. He

spent all yesterday with his 92- year-old mother, who is now back in

a different ward at the Royal Cornwall Hospital after falling out

of bed at home. She is one of the patient sent home when the Wheal

Agar ward was closed down and staff suspended at the weekend. Alan

Callcut want to know why there is an investigation into the ward his

mother has spent the last five weeks in.

My concern was, why was it closed? I immediately called the hospital

and they refused to talk to me. They said don't bring again. That

is all I got. How do you think the Royal Cornwall

Hospital should have handled this? Personally, I think they should

have contacted all the relatives of the people in the ward and put them

into the picture of what is happening. They said -- they should

have said, we will inform you as soon as we know anything. This

evening, the hospital's Trust has responded from a statement -- with

a statement from the Director of Nursing. Bennett, she says we are

happy to speak to any relatives who are concerned about patient care on

Wheal Agar ward, and we will speak to Alan Callcut again about the

care of his mother. In the meantime, the BBC have received a statement

from the Care Quality Commission. They say they are aware of an

incident at the Royal Cornwall Hospital and that they will

continue to monitor the trust to ensure the safety and welfare of

people using the services. We also contacted the Royal College of

Nursing, which represents many of the nurses here. They said they

would not comment, and I am told staff have been told in an e-mail

Plymouth divert Tom Daley has been warned he will miss out on an

Olympic medal if he does not cut back on media work. Team GB diving

coach Alexei Evangulov has criticised the 17-year-old for

having too many commitments eating into training time. The teenager is

training in Essex ahead of a World Cup event next week. He says the

demands on him away from the swimming pool are controlled and he

is adamant they will not be in the week of the Olympics. Great Britain

and Plymouth diver, Brooke Graddon, today defended his -- her timid.

He has -- he is incredibly focused, his main focus is on London and his

training, and nothing will become has -- become -- come between him

and that. Cornwall council is the first local

authority in the South West to offer students a bursary lifeline.

It replaces the EMA. People are being warned of the

danger of not having their chimneys swept after a rise in fires. In the

last week alone, there have been more than 50 call-outs to chimney

fires in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. The increase is being put

down to fire has been lit for the first time, some people trying to

save money while others not knowing how regularly their chimneys should

be swept. A chimney fire can have a

devastating effect. It is thought that is what started the fire which

destroyed this pub in Cornwall last year. The mild autumn and recent

cold weather led to 22 call-outs in Devon, 17 in Somerset and for team

in Cornwall last week. All of a sudden the temperature

dropped. People are starting to use their open fires, and particularly

this week as it is half-term, a lot of people are having their open

fires used, as well. It is thought people mean this having chimneys

swept to save money. Don Peters, who has been a chimney sweep for

three years, believes range because often get overlooked. Times are

tough, but it is one of those things were for �40 you can have

your chimney safe and your family say. You know that anything, a colt

rolling out setting fire to your rug, Europe Jimmy has been cleaned,

your insurance company will pay out. Many people are unaware of how

regularly chimneys should be swept. Guidelines say it should be at

least once a year for smokeless coal. Bitumen should be swept twice

a year, and where would is but it should be up to form at times a

year. Does four trained idea surprise

you? Yes, it does. Will it make you change? Yes, if it needs doing, I

will do it, one or report me once a year. That surprises me. Blimey.

Thank you. Fires can still happen after a sweeping, so smoke alarms

and carbon monoxide detectors are also recommended.

Safety campaigners say Devon and Cornwall has one of the worst

records in the company for farm accidents. Today, farmers from the

region have been attending safety workshops to try and improve that

That would lift up so easily no, it would take nothing to tip that over.

These farmers are back in the classroom at the Duchy College, and

in this less than they are being shown how dangerous quad bikes can

be if not handled correctly. can easily flip it over with a

moment's carelessness. If you touch it, you are potentially at risk.

This farmer knows how it -- knows how easy it is to run into trouble.

He was electrocuted when his trailer hit a power line. I was up

to the sport, could not move, miraculously I broke off, and the

result was a dislocated shoulder and a smashed humorous as the

electricity contracted all the muscles. -- humerus. This machine

demonstrates what can happen if you get caught up in a rotating power

shaft. 1.5 metres of clothing can be

wrapped around the shaft in about one second, so it does not take

much to imagine how dangerous these are. You have no chance to stop the

piece of machinery or take evasive action? None at all, once you are

caught up in the mechanism, it is very -- it is over very quickly.

Every two months, someone is killed on a farm in Devon and Cornwall. It

can be the farmer, unemployed E or member of the family. -- and

employees. Many of these farmers have been farming for decades, but

they say today's saved the event Farmers are joining forces to

battle against cheap food imports, we'll see how they're doing it in a

moment, also still to come. Torquay United accelerate their promotion

charge. And Britain's best selling car of

the '70s. But could this be the oldest Ford Cortina in the world?

We're in Plympton to find out. A South West research project is

saving lives and reducing disability in stroke patients.

Academics are working with doctors in Exeter and the ambulance service

to reduce the time it takes to give patients vital clot-busting

treatment. Our Health Correspondent Sally Mountjoy reports.

Having a stroke has left nearly half a million people in England so

the disabled, but getting treatment fast can make all the difference. A

major stroke last year might have changed this woman's life, but

because she was in hospital for other condition, within one hour,

she was diagnosed, scanned and given treatment to break up the

clot. She has had no lasting damage. I can't understand how I could have

had a stroke and got over it so quickly. And how I would have been

if I hadn't had the treatment, it hardly bears thinking about. I

could have been an invalid forever. A pilot study here at Exeter is

enabling many more stroke patients to get fast treatment that will

reduce the risk of long-term damage. Exeter University researchers have

used computer simulation to analyse patient journeys from nine-night

nine calls to treatment, to identify bottlenecks in the system.

Changes have been made, such as ambulance crews with extra cases

calling ahead. They can get the struck co-ordinators, the struck

consultants and the CT Scanner ready so that when the patient ride,

they can make a quick transition from the ambulance on to the

scanner and then we can determine whether they need the life-saving

drug. Twice as many patients at this hospital are now getting clot-

busting drugs within the crucial three a window, and that is set to

improve. The sooner you treat them, the much better chance they have of

responding to treatment and recovering without major paralysis

or any of the other effects of a stroke. If we can treat more people

and treatment sooner, that will translate into fewer people relying

on the health service, needing care homes, and so on, so it is a

benefit to the patient and also to the health service and the

population as a whole. The study is now likely to be replicated in

hospitals across the region. university is keen to work with any

hospitals, to help them identify where the delays are in stroke

treatment. If we can roll this up to the whole of Devon and Cornwall,

there will be a huge benefit for patients. Suffering a stroke is

devastating, but now, more patient will survive and even thrive after

they have won. -- are more patients. A group of farmers on Dartmoor has

banded together to try and get more people to buy their meat. The

economy, cheap food imports and rapidly rising production costs at

home are all hitting meat producers. Now they hope to use the Dartmoor

name to brand and market their meat. Our Environment Correspondent

Adrian Campbell reports. Upland farmers face harsh times.

The price of meat has been rising, but so, too, have production costs.

50 Dartmoor farmers were banded together, supported by Prince

Charles, to market their native breed cattle and sheep. He helped

us establish our logo and a brand, with marketed support, we have

developed that into a business model, which now has about �5,000

turnover in the last 12 month period. Independent consultants

were commissioned to predict how upland landscapes will change over

30 years if upland farmers cannot make a go of things. On Dartmoor,

open more land grazed by cattle and sheep dips we didn't grassland.

Habitat for ground-nesting birds are overwhelmed and so on

Dartmoor's distinctive walls, coniferous trees and course spread

out, and wild fires burn peat, releasing carbon dioxide.

landscape looks like it does because livestock have been farmed

on those areas for hundreds of years, and should numbers begin to

reduce, the landscape will change as a result. It is the landscape

and the farmers that own the land that shape the landscape we all

enjoyed. On Exmoor, cattle also disappear and grass is less green,

as fertilisers become more costly. Pigs, Dees and horses create a more

crowded landscape, all associated with hobby farming. Could this be

the feature in an era with fewer subsidies of bombing it? What a

poor time the South West would have less, -- once upon a time.

National Farmers' Union says it is encouraged to see farmers working

together linking the meat they produce with the spectacular

landscape. Onto football and Torquay United

are proving to be the South West's star team. Their seventh win in a

row has taken them up to the automatic promotion places in

League Two. With that, and the rest of the football news, here's

Spotlight's Dave Gibbins. Torquay United manager's

unstoppable juggernaut is sweeping all before them. They haven't lost

since mid-December, and are now joint top of the league, thanks to

Ian Morris. They are now level on points with leaders Southend, and

second-placed Cheltenham. In the same division, Plymouth Argyle have

crawled out of the bottom two relegation slots, despite Bonnett

holding them to a goalless draw. In between the north London team twice

hitting the framework, McDonald looked a gift horse in the bath,

inexplicably missing an open goal. Notts County invaded at the City's

nest in the first 10 minutes -- Exeter City's nest. They were

headed level shortly after from this corner kick. But this foul

gave County a penalty, an initiative they never surrendered

in a 2-1 win. Gary Dobson enjoyed his first away win since returning

to manage Yeovil Town. From one down, they replied with three goals

in 14 minutes. The inform Andy Williams struck twice. They stunned

Wycombe a. Although Yeovil conceded another, they held on to win by the

odd goal in five of. Do you recognise this car behind

us? Were used to look at people in envy.

It's 50 years since one of Britain's most popular cars - the

Ford Cortina - first appeared. It quickly became as common a sight on

the road as the Mini and the Beetle. Chloe Axford's been out for a drive

with a Plymouth man who's spent the last four years lovingly restoring

one of the earliest known models of this classic car in existence.

This particular one is a two-door version, which makes it very rare.

Brian bought is not addicted to mark one Ford Cortina four years

ago. You notice the very distinctive back lights, some

people call them ban the bomb at lights. They are unique to the

Marquand container. This is his 8th Cortina. He saved up to buy his

first made Plymouth garage when he was just 21, and it was a lifelong

love affair. It was the first car I could afford, it is the styling,

the history, it is just... Everything to do with the Cortina,

I just love the Cortina, I can't put it into words. Named after an

Italian ski resort, the Ford Cortina first rolled off the

production line in 1962. It cost just �550, though over the next 20

years became one of Britain's most popular cars. Now, for the top gear

I am not much of an expert will but as far as brain is concerned, she

certainly does modern cars are run for the money. -- as far as Brian

is concerned. It makes me feel very happy to be driving it, I'm very

proud to own it, drive it, I look forward to it after working all

week. And for a car which is pushing 50, you can't say fairer

than that. It is immaculate! Better condition

than my car! How is the weather Not too bad, a bit cold at night

because we have some clear sky coming. But a dry story, and

tonight, two or three degrees colder than last night. The

possibility of some frost. The general movement of cloud at the

moment is for it to drift down from the north. It is a long way off,

but it will eventually get to us by Friday night into Saturday. We have

the high pressure, that weakens somewhat through the day tomorrow,

so perhaps feeling a bit warmer. Then on Friday, the front start to

get a bit closer. By the end of the day, it will steadily sink its way

sapwood. That is the picture we have seen so far today. Some good

holes in the cloud, this was early today. He enjoyed a splendid view

of the wildlife on the canal. Some Sunny spells to enjoy, temperatures

peaked at nine or 10 degrees. Isn't it great to see them flying along?

The forecast for this evening and tonight, I mentioned we are going

to see some clear sky, it is developing across the southern half

of the Irish Sea. Most likely, across sheltered part of the South

and East Devon. With a bit of shelter from the north-west winds,

which will be much lighter tonight, we will see the temperatures close

enough to give us some frost in the morning. Along the north Devon

coast, as well as the northern part of Cornwall, there might be a few

light showers tomorrow morning. For the rest of the day, we can expect

the cloud to be fairly extensive, but like today, a few bricks

developing. -- breaks. Not as windy as today, so perhaps feeling a

little warmer. The Isles of Scilly, we can expect a much quieter day.

And we also see times of high water, just the middle of the day. If

you're heading for the beaches but some surfing to be you might be

disappointed bulls -- disappointed. It has been reasonable, but

tomorrow, the wind becomes westerlies are the stuff becomes

smaller and a bit messier. Coastal The outlook - let's start with

fried egg. A lot of cloud, giving potentially some drizzle, but not

really getting going, then Saturday, at the front arrives, gives us