27/01/2017 Spotlight

A machine which will transform how quickly prostate cancer is diagnosed

is about to go into operation at Derriford Hospital.

The scanner, which costs more than ?100,000,

I want to say thank you all very much indeed.

Being unveiled at Derriford Hospital, the most

up-to-date diagnostic technology for prostate cancer in the country.

It's one of only two machines available on the NHS.

What this machine very cleverly does is merge two images,

an ultrasound image here and an MRI image here and that enables

surgeons to see more accurately the type of cancer that

In men, prostate cancer is the most common cancer.

Every year around 47,000 cases are diagnosed in the UK and

Without this new machine, patients face numerous biopsies,

They take eight to ten samples there, needle samples,

So what this wonderful machine will do,

and this is me as a layman saying this,

they will look up there and this will go in 3-D colour

and it will see and it will match up if there's

The money to buy what's called the ultrasound MRI fusion machine

has been raised by people around Devon.

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer

and after that, with the bike nights and the Mega Ride

and all that, we do collect lots of money, you know?

The plan now is to get more fusion machines

This is certainly the first one of this type of machine in the country.

There are another couple being imported and we're looking

to move the south-west into the forefront of this

by installing more machines in the upcoming months,

one at Tiverton and then we're hopefully going to

put one in Torbay and then another one in Treliske.

Jane Chandler, BBC Spotlight, Plymouth.

A rocket launcher has been found at a waste recycling

The three foot green launcher was discovered in a skip by staff

Devon County Council said it had been stripped of its launch

mechanism so it could not have been used.

The centre was closed as a safety precaution until police

A former NHS chief in Devon and Cornwall has pleaded guilty

to lying about his qualifications to obtain the chairmanships of two

63-year-old Jon Andrewes from Totnes misled NHS appointments boards

before being chosen to chair trusts in South Devon in 2007 and the Royal

Labour's Ben Bradshaw has been explaining why he'll vote

against the Article 50 Brexit Bill when it comes before

the Commons next Wednesday, despite orders from the party

The Exeter MP has urged other Labour MPs to do the same.

A number of the party's front bench have already

I can't vote to destroy jobs and prosperity in Exeter

Theresa May said she wants a hard Brexit, outside the customs

union, outside the single market and if we don't get that, we fall

Either way, absolutely disastrous for our economy

and there's no way I could support it.

Now, if you see smoke coming from the Civic Centre in Plymouth

and a huge emergency response this Sunday,

It's one of the largest exercises ever held in Devon,

and will see 150 firefighters involved in tackling a simulated

It's to help test the procedures for dealing with fires

in the region's increasing number of high rise buildings.

It was the biggest fire to hit post-war Plymouth -

Since then, the city's skyline has only gone one

As the buildings get taller, the challenges for the

If you have a look round now in major cities

around the country, especially in the south-west,

we're having more and more high rise buildings being built.

Normally for student accommodation, high rise flats,

so we need to be prepared and aware of the internal structures

Plymouth today looks skywards as well as seawards

for the new council house and municipal offices are as

up-to-the-minute as any skyscraper elsewhere.

At 14 floors, the Civic Centre used to be the city's tallest building.

It stood empty for a couple of years but this weekend,

it'll be the centre of the largest fire drill staged in Devon.

If you can imagine coming into here,

the breathing apparatus crew's first come into it, it's very dark,

They're going to be looking around...

Fireman Steve Anderson has been working on

turning the building into every firefighter's worst nightmare.

We have a few surprises in store but I'm sure they'll be very able

to cope with anything that is thrown at them on the day.

So, on Sunday morning, smoke will billow down

these empty corridors, sirens were sad, actors will scream

and fire crews from as far as Yeovil and Bridgewater

So, there you go, if you're passing down here at 10:30 Sunday morning

and you see smoke billowing from the Civic Centre,

Kevin Hay, BBC Spotlight, in Plymouth.

Time for a look at the weather with David.

Finally, we're going to see a change to milder air,

less frost around but it does also mean there's

some of this in the air, there's some rain

in the forecast for this weekend.

There'll be showers tomorrow, some sunshine in between

but some more persistent rain turning up on Sunday.

Now, we have some rain across us at the moment.

It's slow progress on that band of rain, it will eventually

clear but there is another area of low pressure that'll bring more

But certainly overnight tonight, the rain is off and on.

Probably not clearing much of Dorset and Somerset

until after it gets light but certainly for Cornwall,

a clearance and in between a few showers, there may well be

enough clearance to allow the temperatures

to dip down to perhaps three or four Celsius.

But for most of us, five or six, we should get

Tomorrow, some sunshine but also the risk of a few showers.

Finally getting westerly winds so those

temperatures will continue to rise and hopefully by the end of the day,

we'll be back up to around seven or eight Celsius.

Although it does cool down quite quickly on Saturday night

as we see a good deal of clear sky developing.

That all changes on Sunday though as we see mild and wet weather

arrive from the south and the south-west and

temperatures back up to 11, possibly even 12 Celsius.

It stays unsettled but also mild into next week.

Were back with the Saturday News and sport at 20 past five tomorrow. Have

a good evening, we will see you soon.