this is bbc news. i'm vicky young. the headlines at 11pm: hospital a&e's in england record one of their worst ever waiting times last month, with a thousand patients trapped on trolleys for more than 12 hours. adding to the problems in hospitals, a report finds social care is being undermined by a lack of government planning and funding. interest rates remain on hold for now, but the bank of england says they could rise sooner than anticipated following stronger global growth. and on newsnight tonight, on the eve of a big exhibition, the designer and activist katherine hamnett talks about political teeshirts and this unique one she wore for a memorable meeting with mrs thatcher in 1984. good evening.

the latest performance figures for accident and emergency units in england, suggest thatjanuary was one of the worst months since records began. more than a thousand patients waited for more than 12 hours on trolleys before being admitted to wards, and the four—hour waiting target was missed for the 30th month in a row. our health editor hugh pym has the latest. the nhs flat out with staff working at a frantic pace just to keep services running. the system under severe strain and patients are feeling it. this mobile team is trying to help reduce pressure on local hospitals. 0k, next, we will go right on to cambridge heath road... here, a senior a&e consultant is out on the road with a paramedic, literally taking hospital standard care to patients at home. so they don't need

to go to hospital. it's a partnership between london air ambulance, london ambulance service, and barts health. they see an elderly man with dementia who has been in and out of hospital. and ensure that he's safe to be left at home with his carer. so we carry with us a laptop, which gives us direct access intto the exact same hospital system... job! that we have... yes, we've got anotherjob. everyday they see the intense pressures on the nhs. there's a lot of frustration. what we want is at the end of the day, we want to be able to say that we have done the best for our patients. and when the system makes that difficult, that can be very frustrating. and working in an overly congested system sometimes leaves us feeling that we simply can't deliver the best possible care for our patients. congestion was certainly clear in major hospitals from early injanuary with overcrowding and trolleys in corridors and ambulances queueing outside hospitals waiting to hand over their patients. this nurse in leeds says even though thousands of routine operations were postponed to help the system the pressure is intolerable. i don't know whether it's

sustainable, what we do at the moment. it's how long we can maintain this professionalism and keenness and caring attitude. it won't go, but it is wondering... people will crack. some take the view that this winter's problems in hospitals are down to years of underfunding and not enough capacity to meet demand. over the last seven or eight years we've cut the number of acute beds in our hospitals which is now unfortunately chickens coming home to roost and we need to redress that balance as a matter of urgency. nice and smooth, actually, someone's looking after you well. keeping people out of hospital is the aim of this scheme. eliza is in a residential home. her carers were concerned about her condition.

the team had enough time to carry out a range of checks to allow her to stay where she is. in the three—and—a—half months since it was relaunched as the seven day a week service more than 300 patients have been treated at home who otherwise would have needed ambulances to take them to a&e. some of them would otherwise have been admitted to hospital, so beds have been freed up for others. it's just one local answer to the problem. the government says more money was invested in the budget but the strain in the nhs this winter suggests there's no sign of any respite. hugh pym, bbc news. one of the complicating factors for the nhs is that too many patients stay in hospital because suitable social care is not available. research today indicates that problem is getting worse. our social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. it is a busy lunchtime at northfield's nursing home sheffield. demanding work for the care staff,

who are looking after residents who may have dementia, problems walking or a range of chronic health conditions. joyce, good afternoon, only me, sorry to bother you, darling. today's national audit office report outlines just how difficult it is to find people to do this vital work, yet for residents like 97—year—old joyce renton, the staff make all the difference. it is absolutely essential, if, you know, when i see the faces coming in in the morning and thinking, oh, it's a friend. the nursing lead here, tammy ardron, says that recruiting staff is a real issue for them. i don't think it's as attractive as the nhs, where you have your salary packages, enhanced rates of pay, and sociable hours... and i think that it is hard work, it is busy and constant, you have to be on the ball 2a hours a day. residential and nursing homes are dealing with an increasing number of people with really complex

needs and they need the skilled staff to deliver that care. and that is why this report says the government must have a strategy for a sector struggling with low pay and low prestige. there was a staff turnover in 2016/17 of nearly 28%, and councils are 5.3% less than five years before, despite increasing demand. the report is clear that councils struggling with government cuts are not covering the real costs of care, and according to the boss of this home, some providers have had no choice but to close or risk the quality of what they are doing. the only way that these operators can continue, is to cut the standard, because fundamentally, the funding issue is impacting on the resources, the workers, and the delivery of care. a survey of local authorities in england published today says that nearly all planned to put up council tax to try to cope with growing demands for adult and

children's social care. 80% still fear for their financial stability. the government insists it is addressing these pressures. and that's why they are getting more resources. it's a real terms increase over two years, social care in particular, adult social care in the budget, over £2 billion allocated yesterday and in parliament i announced an additional £150 million. this may relieve short—term pressures but in the long term i accept that we need to change the approach to social care. the department for health and social care says it will publish a strategy for the health and care work shortly. alison holt, bbc news. two british extremists who are believed to have been members of an islamic state execution group are reported to have been captured by kurdish militia fighters in syria. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh were part of a group of four from london including the man known asjihadi

john. the group was linked to a string of hostage murders in iraq and syria. the new york times says the men have been identified by fingerprints and other biometric means. the brexit secretary david davis has strongly criticised the european union's latest negotiating statement as "not in good faith." the eu has published plans that would allow it to punish the uk during a transition period without going to the european court ofjustice. during that period, around two years or so, britain would have no input into brussels decision making. mr davis was speaking after more downing street meetings to discuss strategy. they have to say i thought that document was hardly a legal document. it was a political document. it was a political document. what we're about is an implementation period to a bridge to a future where we work well together. and i do not think it was in good faith to publish a document

with, frankly, discourteous language, and actually implying that they could arbitrarily terminate, in effect, the intimidation period. that is not what the aim of this exercise is. it is not in good faith. and we think it was unwise to publish that. the japanese ambassador has warned that japanese firms in the uk are worried about access to the eu after brexit. afterjoining the prime minister in downing street for a meeting with japanese business leaders, he warned no firm would be able to continue to operate here if they're not profitable because of brexit trade barriers. the bank of england says interest rates are likely to rise sooner

than expected because of strong global growth, driving up inflation. the bank's latest report included improved forecasts for growth over the next three years. today interest rates were left on hold — at a half of one per cent — but the governor mark carney said action would soon be needed to restrain inflation as our economics editor kamal ahjmed reports. stitching together a better story on the economy. orders for this firm in manchester are booming, and it's a story repeated around the country, leading to a positive assessment from the bank of england. the last 12 months we've grown by 20% in the uk. europe has been much stronger than that and so we have more than doubled what the growth rate has been in the uk. i'm cautiously optimistic about the future, we are making major investments over the next 12 months. for the governor, there was a simple reason for the better news. 90% of the world economy is now growing above trend, and the global expansion is increasingly being driven by investment. uk net trade is benefiting from this robust global demand, and the past depreciation of sterling. the economy is heating up, and the threat of interest rate rises to control inflation has increased. governor, this is a warning on interest rates,

that they are likely to come earlier, and then to rise more rapidly than you originally expected? it will be necessary, likely to be necessary, to raise interest rates, to a limited degree, in a gradual process... the bank of england has upgraded growth — this year it is expected to rise from 1.5% to 1.7%. next year, better news, as well — growth up from 1.7%, to 1.8%. but prices will continue to rise, inflation is now expected to be at 2.9% by the end of the year. before falling back next year to 2.3%. with wages increasing, might that income squeeze be coming to an end? bank of england expects that wages are going to accelerate, and the reasons for this are they see the unemployment rate falling further, they see strong demand for labour, and fewer people entering the labour force. and together that

means higher wages. now, it will not necessarily feed into stronger consumption. households are squeezed by still high inflation. certainly better news today on the economy today from the bank of england but that news laced with a very significant signal on interest rates. if you have a mortgage, if you borrow money, be ready for higher bills. and if you're a saver, at last, get ready for better returns. the bank did warn again about brexit risk. but for britain, an exporting nation, the good news from the rest of the world is keeping the economy buoyant. kamal ahmed, bbc news. an inquest has found that a series of failures including "a missed opportunity to provide potentially life saving early intervention" contributed to the death of a 33—year—old man from constipation. richard handley died in ipswich hospital in november 2012 following an operation to remove matter from his abdomen. coroner dr peter dean said there were "gross failures" in spotting mr handley was in a critical state with complications

after the operation. the hospital trust has apologised to the family and said lessons had been learned. nearly a fifth of people working in parliament have seen or experienced sexual harassment, according to a report today. a cross—party group of mps — chaired by the leader of the commons, andrea leadsom — has recommended a new code of conduct, an independent complaints procedure and tougher sanctions for inappropriate behaviour. the review was set up last year after several harassment claims against mps and staff. scientists have expressed deep concern about the amount of plastic waste that is building up in arctic sea. they've found it in higher concentrations than anywhere else in the world's oceans, and it's affecting fish, sea birds and polar bears. our environment analyst roger harrabin reports from tromso in the norwegian arctic. that's a summary of the news.

newsday is coming up at midnight. now on bbc news, it's time for newsnight. tonight... images of a massacre. reuters publish the investigation that they say led to their reporters being jailed in myanmar. they claim for the first time to have evidence from within the burmese security forces themselves of attacks on the rohingya carried out by them. the editor—in—chief of reuters is here to tell us why they have published even while their reporters remain in a burmese prison. it's here, it's there, it's everywhere. mps are in washington, tackling the tech giants over fake news. one of the few people donald trump follows on twitter is here to bite back against the mainstream media. and the power of the humble t—shirt — remember this unique one? the designer and campaigner, and queen of the political tee, katherine hamnett, talks about the day she made it and wore it.

good evening. the rohingya crisis has led to at least half a million rohingya muslims fleeing mainly buddhist myanmar in the past six months, escaping from a brutal military crackdown and the torching of whole villages. it has sullied the international reputation of aung san suu kyi and has also posed grave risks for some of those covering it. in december of last year, two journalists for the reuters news agency were arrested in myanmar — wa lone and kyaw soe oe. they are still in jail, awaiting trial for allegedly obtaining confidential documents. it was known that the two journalists were covering the aftermath of some of the brutal violence against the rohingya. but since their arrest rumours have circulated around what those journalists were investigating.