hugh pym, thank you so much.dvance of president macron‘s visit to the uk on thursday, mp tom tugendhat was speaking to breakfast presenter charlie stayt about anglo—french relations when he found himself struggling with a croaky throat. it is true that our relationship is incredibly close and incredibly important for both of us. and we now have both got a responsibility to make it work on every level. thank you very much for your time this morning. we will allow you to get a glass of water to help your throat. thank you for your time this morning. thank you. always annoying when those frogs appear at the most inopportune times. it's 7:21am... given that frenchman, president macron, had just been under discussion, was that reference to a frog, a subtle, if rather questionablejoke, orjust an unfortunate coincidence? a twitter user called the mystery man bought the former, describing it as an amazing joke and although some were less impressed, a bbc spokesman said, our guest appeared to be struggling with a croaky v

hugh pym, bbc news. that will be discussed in detail at six o'clock.he team will have more on storm eleanor, after the west coast of ireland bore the brunt of storm eleanor — 80 mile per hour gusts that battered the uk overnight has left 10,000 homes in northern ireland northern ireland without power. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the us praises demonstrators in iran, but ridicules claims by iran's supreme leader that the protests are being orchestrated by outside forces. president trump has threatens to withhold financial aid to the palestinians because, he said, they are "no longer willing to talk peace." tragedy in peru — at least 48 people have died after their coach fell off a cliff near the capital, lima. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the gulf news and iran where the death toll continues to rise due to unrest. france, britain, canada and the european union have called on tehran to respect the iranian peoples right to demonstrate. the japan time

hugh pym reports. ambulance sirens. there is always great pressure on the nhs in the new year. have held off until after the seasonal holiday. but the strains seem even bigger this year. two ambulance services in england, covering the north—east and east, are on the highest state of operational alert, asking families to use their own transport to bring patients into hospital where possible. here in the north—east, they say they've prepared as much as they possibly could. it's unprecedented levels of demand that we're dealing with — you know, if i take just the period from the 23rd of december until the first of january, we've seen 30% more calls. now, you know, we do plan for winter. we start planning in the summer, so we are predicting and forecasting activity from historic periods, but we didn't anticipate a 30% increase. the trust running scarborough and york hospital said there were high numbers of patients, and staff were under considerable pressure. 0ne doctor said in his view it was unprecedented. i've worked in a number of different emergency departments around the coun

hugh pym, bbc news.t police are out in force in cities across iran tonight as anti—government protests continue. at least 22 people have died since the demonstrations began six days ago. hundreds of people have been arrested. today iran's supreme leader broke his silence for the first time since the protests began and accused his country's enemies of stirring up the unrest. the protests a re the boldest challenge to iran's clerical leadership for almost a decade. tonight america urged iran to exercise restraint and to restore people's access to social media. here's our middle east editorjeremy bowen. in tehran, squads of motorbike police are cruising the streets to break up groups of demonstrators. the protests have changed since they started last thursday. gunshots. to begin with, they were about the economy. most of the protesters are young men. more than 50% of iranians are under 30 and perhaps 40% of them are unemployed. but pent up political frustration is spilling out and much of it has been direct

hugh pym, bbc news.to eliminate avoidable plastic — as part of a far—reaching plan to improve britain's environment. theresa may's urged supermarkets to introduce aisles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. a small charge for disposable plastic bags will also be extended to all shops, not just big retailers. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports. what do you think i should look for? a grand vision, we were promised, a plan to look after the spaces around us for years to come and the prime minister trying to spot political opportunity, too. the environment is something personal to each of us but it is also something that collectively we hold in trust for the next generation and we have a responsibility to protect and enhance it. top of the list, cleaning up plastics that harm wildlife on land and sea, more charges for plastic bags, possible taxes on containers and encouraging shops to use less. but over time, a long time, with no new law to underline the change. in years to c

hugh pym, bbc news.the royal preston hospital and our correspondent, dominic hughes. what is the situation there, how is the hospital coping? well, nhs data tells us the lancashire teaching hospitals, of which the royal preston is part, has the worst ambulance handovers in england. more than half of the ambulances that attended the a&e had to wait more than 30 minutes before discharging patients over 212 macro and one in five had to wait for more 60 minutes. —— handing patients over to the a&e. in the south—west of england and london and the north east, waiting times lower, but the problems reflect pressured throughout the system. in community care, social care, gp services. a&e is the front door to be and it has for so many patients and of the hospitals cannot discharge patients from their wards into the community, a&e staff cannot move their patients off bed apartment on the those wards and that affects the ambulance hand—over times. so what happens at a&e refracts pressures across the system that is b

our health editor hugh pym has more. there's 73 outstanding ambulances right now.a striking image from a week of intense pressure on the nhs. leah butler—smith's video of ambulances queueing at a hospital with her mother waited, even as she was having a stroke. events like these have fired up a new debate on the nhs and its funding. health spending needs to keep rising to pay for new medicines and meet the sometimes complex needs of a population which is living longer. the percentage of the population aged over 65 in the uk was under 15% in the 19705 and is projected to get close to 25% by 201m. health spending across the uk has grown a lot since the 19505, shown here after adjusting for inflation, and has now reached more than £140 billion per year. average annual government spending on health since the 19505 has gone up around 4% a year in real terms. but under the coalition government from 2010, the average increase in england was onlyjust over 1% a year. under the conservatives in the last couple of years, the average increases have been over 2%, but most in th

here's our health editor, hugh pym. we are in a queue with lots of other people who are clearly very sick. everybody‘s waiting to get in. a patient‘s eye view of the stress across the nhs. a queue of ambulances waiting to hand over patients at a hospital. leah was stuck for more than an hour in the ambulance with her mother, who was at that moment having a stroke. it's gobsmacking. it's gobsmacking and devastating. it feels like a sick feeling like a sickening feeling, that this is how bad it is. 0ne chief executive even tweeted a picture of ambulances at his hospital, wigan infirmary, a lovely fleet of 14 parked outside the door, he said. handover delays at hospitals are not good news for patients and they stop ambulances getting back on the road again. the process at a&e units is supposed to take no more than 15 minutes. the latest figures for england show a sharp increase in the numbers waiting more than 30 minutes. bbc analysis shows that, across the system, since the end of november, one in eight have been held up

hugh pym, bbc news. bill that will transfer all european union legislation into uk law has cleared the house of commons. the legislation will now go to the house of lords, where it will be debated for the first time and face new amendments at the end of the month. a former cia agent has been arrested in new york on suspicion of helping china to identify american spies and informants. jerry chun shing lee was detained after the fbi found notebooks containing classified information while searching his luggage. more than a dozen cia informants have been killed or imprisoned by the chinese government since 2012. a man who was abused by the former football coach barry bennell has told a court that the former wales manager, gary speed, was one of four men who were coached by bennell who then went on to take their own lives. bennell, who's 64, is on trial at liverpool crown court where he denies 48 counts of sexual abuse, against 11 boys, between 1979 and 1990. 0ur sports editor, dan roan, reports. back in the

hugh pym is here to take a closer look at the numbers., as always the nhs debate covers money — politicians talking about billions of pounds. the chancellor mentioned £6 billion more in the budget for the nhs in england but that's spread over five years. there are growing demands now for radical thinking about health and social care funding, trying to work out what's needed in future decades and how much extra money taxpayers will have to find. the workforce is under pressure. vacant nursing and midwifery posts reached a new high of more than 3a,000 in england. that's added to the debate about the need for long—term planning. some senior figures at westminster say only a break from party politics will allow the right treatment of the nhs‘s problems. we need to take the long view. rather than just having these short—term emergency injections of cash, let's properly look at the scale of demand, where that's coming from and how we meet it, not just for the next year or two years, but for the next ten years and beyond. so, what is the current

hugh pym, bbc news.o a voluntary ban on selling corrosive liquids to under—eighteens, in a bid to reduce the number of acid attacks. here's our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani. arthur collins, jailed for 20 years for an appalling nightclub attack. watch this cctv. you can see him throwing acid on his victims, 22 people left with burns, a crime involving a household product that's been growing, year on year. police recorded more than 500 attacks involving corrosive substances in england and wales in the year to last april. 0fficials think the true figure could be twice as high. ministers have launched an action plan, including a review of how cases are prosecuted and first aid training for police. and from today, a voluntary ban by diy chains, including b&q, on selling harmful chemicals to under—18s. supermarkets will also challenge underage customers just like they would if they were buying alcohol. acid attacks are the most horrific crimes, and we want to make sure we restrict access, that w

hugh pym, bbc news. 30 people are missing after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship off the east coast of china. worth around $60 million is either burning or spilling into the sea. the collision happened 160 miles from shanghai, as the tanker was en route to south korea from iran. andy moore reports. still burning fiercely many hours later and no confirmed news about the fate of its 32 crew. 30 were iranian and two were from bangladesh. it is more than 270 metres long and carrying just under 1 million barrels of oil. that will effectively be in the top ten oil spills worldwide. it has a huge potential for environmental damage. the tanker set off from the persian gulf on itsjourney the tanker set off from the persian gulf on its journey to south korea. it sailed through the malacca strait before colliding with a chinese freight ship in the east china sea off the port city of shanghai. major oil spills from tankers are becoming less common. 0ne oil spills from tankers are becoming less comm

hugh pym, bbc news.al attack, before hiding her body in a wardrobe for almost three weeks, has been sentenced to life in prison wolverhampton crown court heard that ashley foster, who's 2a, had been released from prison only three days before he killed megan bills who was 17, at a hostel in brierley hill. he will serve a minimum of 26 years in prison. a court at the old bailey has heard that a man kidnapped two women and cut their throats, before leaving one of them dead in a freezer in a disused house. mujahid arshid, from kingston in south london, is facing multiple charges, including the rape and murder of 20 —year—old celine dookhran. he denies the charges. a man who was abused by the former football coach barry bennell has told a court that the former wales manager — gary speed — was one of four men who took their own lives. they'd all been coached by 64 —year—old barry bennell who is on trial at liverpool crown court. he denies 48 counts of sexual abuse against 11 boys between 1979 and 1990. 0ur sp

hugh pym, bbc news.tland are being advised to stay off the roads tonight, as heavy snow and ice make driving conditions treacherous. more than 200 motorists were left stranded last night on the m71; — the motorway linking scotland to england. 0ur scotland correspondent, lorna gordon, is there. yes, their risk a really serious warning in place tonight. —— there rose a really serious. in effect, the most severe warning the police can get. they are saying this buzz might do not travel if you can add all avoid it in most of southern scotla nd all avoid it in most of southern scotland and central belt areas. the road here is, for now, clear. but a very heavy snowfall is expected later tonight. from the air, it is stunning — a white blanket of snow covering much of scotland, gritters cutting a path through the drifts. but for those travelling last night, it was a different story. traffic on the m71; grinding to a halt in the treacherous conditions, stranded drivers stuck for hours. terrible! just cars, lorries

hugh pym, thank you.orea have conducted their first direct communication in nearly two years via a brief conversation on the phone. north korea said the aim would be to discuss sending a north korean delegation to the winter games in south korea next month. meanwhile, president trump has boasted on twitter that his nuclear button is "much bigger" and "more powerful" than north korea's. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes reports from the south korean capital, seoul. on monday, kim jong—un welcomed in the new year with a more conventional display of fireworks than the sort he's been firing off throughout 2017. but anyone who was hoping his new year message would carry an offer of peace and goodwill was quickly disappointed. "the entire united states is within range of our nuclear weapons," he said, "and the nuclear button is always on my desk." "this is reality, not a threat." that was all the excuse president donald trump needed, and as we have now come to expect, his response came in a twitter tirad

hugh pym, bbc news. let's talk to eleanor garnier who's in downing street...ut this planned reshuffle? theresa may will wa nt to planned reshuffle? theresa may will want to be seen to be on the front foot as she starts the new year, choosing the people around her, building her own tame and her supporters will say that the reshuffle is a sign of a strike then prime minister but others might add that of those in the top job stay the same then is this just tinkering around the edges and labour have said it is a desperate pr exercise. as for the winners and losers, i would be surprised if some of the very biggestjobs are moved. chancellor, foreign secretary, home secretary and brexit secretary for example and perhaps we should expect more diversity, more women, more mps from ethnic minorities. theresa may might not wa nt to minorities. theresa may might not want to be defined by brexit but it is dominating the time of the government and efforts and those who might have survived 2017, there are plenty of opportunities ahead for slip—ups and difficult times ahead. t

hugh pym, bbc news. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg is in westminster.ime ministerfrom certainly a very stark letter to the prime minister from these very senior doctors. politically, how awkward is this for the government? this isn't the first government that's had to grapple with these agonising pressures on the health service in the winter and they are not the first government to have been around and in charge when a conversation about the longer term needs and sustainability of the nhs has done the rounds at this time of year. however, there does seem to be something a bit different this year, not just because of something a bit different this year, notjust because of how stark warnings are, how awful the experiences of some patients that are emerging have been, but because there is a mood in the tory party, there is a mood in the tory party, the governing party, there are more and more voices speaking out, raising the question of whether or not the current model can last without some significant change. either in how we pay for it, or in a significa

many thanks for the latest, hugh pym at st mary ‘s hospital.thern europe and four people have been killed by falling trees or debris, where gusts of up to 90 miles per hour have been recorded. across the netherlands and germany, winds caused severe disruption on roads and damage to property. hundreds of flights and trains were also cancelled. here, powerful winds have caused disruption across parts of the uk, with gusts of over 80 miles an hour. tens of thousands of homes have been without power for much of the day in east anglia and the south—east of england. the high winds brought down trees and power cables, blocking rail lines and roads and damaging homes. for the first time, scientists say they're confident that the impact of humans on the global climate is dwarfing that of natural change. research from agencies that monitor climate change, including the uk met office and the us space agency nasa, shows that 2017 was the hottest year on record. and 17 of the 18 warmest years recorded since 1850 have been in this century. researchers say th

who's president of the royal college of emergency medicine, has been telling our health editor, hugh pymhow bad the situation has become. well, i think the latest figures, as well as the letter today from 68 co nsulta nts well as the letter today from 68 consultants in emergency medicine show the scale of challenge that emergency departments are facing at the moment in what is the worst set of figures in the last 15 years. you have used some strong language too, how serious is the situation? we've said for a long time that the situation is very serious and what we situation is very serious and what we need now is we are in the middle of what is clearly a crisis and we need to work collaboratively together, as colleges, department of health, and other bodies to be able to address the problems that we face and identify solutions that are going to help us in the next few weeks and months. and then move on to medium—term solutions. weeks and months. and then move on to medium-term solutions. every january there a lot of pressure. how serious is it this time, given that injanuary serious is i

hugh pym, thank you so much. relations when he found himself struggling with a croaky throat. it's true that our relationship is incredibly close, and incredibly important for both of us. and we now have both got a responsibility to make it work on every level. thank you very much for your time this morning. we'll allow you to get a glass of water to help your throat. thank you for your time this morning. thank you. always annoying when those frogs appear at the most inopportune times. it's 7:21am... given that frenchman president macron had just been under discussion, was that reference to a frog, a subtle, if rather questionablejoke, orjust an unfortunate coincidence? a twitter user called the mystery man bought the former, describing it as... an amazing joke and although some were less impressed, a bbc spokesman said, our guest appeared to be struggling with a croaky voice and naga was simply referring to that. thank you very much for all your comments this week. we welcome all your opinions on bbc news and cu

we ask health editor, hugh pym, weather bbc coverage could be damaging confidence among nhs staff andt you see on the news which captures the attention of newswatch viewers, but when you see it. on wednesday evening, a football match was showing live on bbc one. if you're interested, an fa cup third—round replay between chelsea and norwich city. unfortunately, not everyone was interested and when the broadcast overran because of the start to the game and they go into extra time and then a penalty shoot out, some of them were pretty angry, as the news at ten became the news at 10:a5pm. here is deborah. last night, my husband and i got home after a long day at work and we do like to sit down and watch the ten 0'clock news. but it turns out a football match was over running and the news had to be displaced by 45 minutes. i just don't think somebody‘s got their head screwed on. if the football match is that important, put it on a different channel. but i feel news comes before football. another sport caught the attention of some viewers last saturday, although not all of them might descri

argument by suggesting what is needed is i don't love they have a dart for —— our health editor hugh pympolitics that there is a question about the nhs resources. and increasing debate with a&e units being so full, very overstretched staff, difficulties finding beds. all those images have really sharpened this debate. what people in the nhs are saying it is no good politicians bandying around billions of pounds more and debates going on around that without some proper analysis. what they want to see is a projection over ten years after man in the health service. how much the population will grow, what the ageing population will need, what more can be done about prevention, and then look at what is needed to pay for it. and a proper debate rather than the cross—party fight the whole time. there is a growing demand the consensus among politicians, 90 mps signed a letter to theresa may at the end of last year from all three main parties at westminster calling forjust main parties at westminster calling for just that sort of approach. main parties at westminster calling forjust that sort of

here's our health editor, hugh pym. we are in a queue with lots of other people who are clearly very sick. everybody‘s waiting to get in. we are in a queue with lots of other people who are clearly very sick. a patient‘s eye view of the stress across the nhs. a queue of ambulances waiting to hand over patients at a hospital. leah was stuck for more than an hour in the ambulance with her mother, who was at that moment having a stroke. it's gobsmacking. it's gobsmacking and devastating. it feels like a sick feeling, like a sickening feeling, that this is how bad it is. 0ne chief executive even tweeted a picture of ambulances at his hospital, wigan infirmary, a lovely fleet of 1a parked outside the door, he said. handover delays at hospitals are not good news for patients and they stop ambulances getting back on the road again. the process at a&e units is supposed to take no more than 15 minutes. but the latest figures for england show a sharp increase in the numbers waiting more than 30 minutes. bbc analysis shows that ac

labour claims the nhs is in crisis. 0ur health editor hugh pym has the latest. hospitals. around 20 in england have been on the highest alert level. that means no available beds and severe delays for ambulances handing over patients. one reason why tens of thousands of non—urgent operations this month will be cancelled. that means patients like dave, who is himself a doctor, will have to wait longer. he was due to have heart surgery today, but was told yesterday he'd have to wait for a new date. as a patient, i think i underestimated how upsetting it is to prepare for something like this and then for it not to be occurring. and as a doctor, i really feel for all our patients who are going through the same thing. so what did the health secretary, jeremy hunt, have to say to patients worried about possible long delays? i want to apologise for the fact that we have had, regrettably, to postpone a number of operations. we're trying to do it differently this year. last year, we cancelled a lot of operations at the very last minute, so people got a call the day before

hugh pym, bbc news.t his plans for what he calls "a green brexit" later today. michael gove will announce plans to mirror eu subsidies to british farmers — worth three billion pounds a year — until 202a. the payments will then be replaced by a system to encourage environmental improvements, such as rewards for opening up the countryside to the public, providing new habitats for wildlife and increasing biodiversity. tony blair has stepped up his criticism of labour's approach to brexit, accusing the party of "timidity". the former prime minister said labour should stop backing the uk's withdrawal from the eu, and instead support a second referendum. our political correspondent chris mason is in westminster. morning to you chris, tell us more about what tony blair has been saying then this brexit is a frequent spinner on the tony blair play list of political intervention, and the chorus, his view the uk should stay in the european union is familiar too, what is striking here, is the language he adopts in h

jeremy hunt, speaking to hugh pym.devolved governments. scottish a&e units failed to meet their waiting times targets last month. in a moment we'll speak to our scotland correspondent james shaw — but first to university hospital wales in cardiff, and our correspondent tomos morgan. how have services in wales been affected by the winter problems we have been hearing about? clive, i understand that the services across wales, the early indication is that a&e departments across wales have fared worse this year than this time last year. that is according to the vice president of the royal college of the emergency services in wales, who is also a consultant at wrexham hospital. he said that a&e departments across wales have been struggling this year. one department in particular had only seen 38% of patients within a four hour period at one point. the welsh government target is to see 95% of patients within that for our time frame. now, there have been some cancelled operations, across some of the operations, across some of

hugh pym, bbc news. on construction sites run by the failed company carillion, but most of the firm's private sector service contracts such as catering and cleaning are continuing. you warnings of heavy snow for many northern parts of the uk after hundreds of drivers spent last night stranded in their cars. more than one in ten nurses is leaving the nhs in england every year according to new figures. and more people are now leaving the profession thanjoining more people are now leaving the profession than joining it. olly foster has the sports news from bbc sport centre. the last of the fa cup third—round replay is taking place tonight. there are three of them, all scheduled for 7:45pm at chelsea's match with norwich was delayed 15 minutes due to problems with the tube. around a quarter of an hour into this match at stamford bridge, no goals yet. chelsea have drawn their last four games including the goalless draw against the canaries at carrow road. they've made nine changes to the team. danny drinkwate

hugh pym, bbc news.professor carl heneghan, director of evidence—based medicine at the university of oxford, and also an out—of—hours gp. i know nhs officials are not saying this is a crisis, but clearly severe problems this winter — what are the root causes? first of all, go back to january the 13th 2017, same problem has occurred year—on—year on year, so problem has occurred year—on—year on year, so we problem has occurred year—on—year on year, so we have to get realistic about these problems that will occur ina way about these problems that will occur in a way that starts to happen, but what is different is our rising elderly population, who are complex and difficult to manage. that is a problem that we are now seeing add to the problems, and there is this persistent problem where it is difficult to discharge these people because there is a disconnect in social care provision, a disconnect in how we value and treat the elderly, and we have to start thinking differently about what is a good news story,

he spoke to our health editor, hugh pym. what is your message to the patients held up in a&e?treme pressure? first, staff. this is a period where the country wants to say thank you. they have been going beyond the call of duty, working very long shifts, extremely difficult shifts overnight. notjust me. the entire country is incredibly proud of the front line staff. this is always the busiest week of the year. and they could not be doing more to keep the patients safe. with respect to the patients, i want to apologise for the fact that regrettably we have had to postpone a number of operations. we are trying to do things differently this year. last year we cancelled any operations at the very last moment, people got a telephone call the day before. that is obviously very undesirable. we want to do this with more planning. the hope is that the total number is not going to be significantly higher this year than last year. signs are we are managing to keep the occupancy levels relatively lower than last year. but we are dealing with the uptake in flu. the nhs cannot be running pro

in a moment, we'll have a word with our health editor, hugh pym, at the department of health and socials talk to ed thomas, whose report we've just seen. staff remarkably candid about the immense challenges they are facing. what the impressions you took away? yes, that is right, it was incredibly difficult to get into that hospital to tell that story. but once we did, we were struck by how open and frank and honest nurses, consultants, health co nsulta nts nurses, consultants, health consultants were, they wanted to tell their story. the stories you just heard tonight, they were just a snapshot of a particular moment inside the hospital. they were representative of our time there. people who are tired and frustrated. and importantly, the pictures you have just been watching, the ambulances outside a&e, the patients queueing up in the corridors, they match what clinicians have told us up match what clinicians have told us up and down the country this winter. but the one thing to take away from all of this was how incredibly hard the nurses and doctors were working inside that hospital to

our health editor hugh pym is outside the hospital in oxford. is an change to their cancer treatment.d patients should expect the usual high standards of care. usual high standards of care. for cancer nurses, specialist nurses, a 40% shortfall. nurses, a 40% shortfall. reconsider when people started chemotherapy. chemotherapy. conditions, it would go ahead as usual. usual. started in one or two weeks may now be four weeks. be four weeks. doses would be adjusted and spread out over a longer time period. out over a longer time period. clinical director claire hobbs, had this to say to me today. change the number of treatment we give to some patients. give to some patients. course is just as effective as a longer course. longer course. know if there were any changes in those clinical trials. those clinical trials. worried they will not have their treatment as planned. treatment as planned. when demand for cancer care across the nation is rising. prime minister's questions of this year. "better prepared than ever before". our political correspondent alex forsyth is at westminster for us.

hours — the 95% target — the figure equals the previous low recorded last january. 0ur heath editor hugh pymry. serious concerns about patient safety and an intolerable situation. strong words from senior front line doctors in a letter to the prime minister. with scenes like this filmed by a patient in a hospital, the warnings are echoed by some medical leaders. there is no doubt that our emergency departments are facing the biggest crisis that we have had for over 15 years. we absolutely must work together as system leaders at every level in order to find both short—term and medium—term solutions. the letter from the a&e consultants sets out the impact of the pressure and their own experiences. over 120 patients a day managed in corridors, some dying prematurely. an average of 10—12 hours from decision to admit a patient until they are transferred to a bed, and patients sleeping in clinics as makeshift wards. they say nhs winter planning failed to deliver what was needed. but the prime minister insisted that significant measures had been put in place. for the first time ever, urgent gp appo

our health editor, hugh pym, is here.n a&e in wales and now this sharp rise in flu cases across the uk last week. it is all adding to an already overstretched nhs? yes, sophie. public health officials have confirmed this is the worst flu season have confirmed this is the worst flu season since 2010, but it's not as bad at a similar stage as it was then. if we look at people going into gp surgeries with flu—like symptoms, there's been a big increase in the last couple of weeks, since the 1st of january. looking at the figures, since january the 1st, people going into gps in wales with flu symptoms, up nearly 300%, which may explain some of the pressure on a&e. in northern ireland, scotland and england, still 153% in england, a big rise. public health england is saying it isn't as bad as seven years ago and there is still time to have the flu jab, but there was concern at high levels of there was concern at high levels of the nhs as to where this might go. in england, the a&e performance last week wasn't as bad as the first

our health editor hugh pym has been taking a closer look at the numbers.owing demands for radical thinking about nhs and social care funding. trying to work out what is needed in future decades and how much extra money taxpayers will have to find. senior figures at westminster are saying only a break from party politics will row the right treatment of the nhs's problems. we need to take the long view, rather than having short—term emergency injections of cash, let's look at the scale of demand where it is coming from and how we meet it, not just for the next year or two but for the next ten years and beyond. what is the current state of the nhs? it has added more staff, just over 10,000 more doctors in england since 2010 but they have had to cope with a rapid rise in patient numbers. a 40% increase in the number of operations carried out in england over the last decade. 0ver time, attendances at a&e went up by almost 30%. spending across the uk has gone up. this graph shows the rise since 1950. it is now more than £140 billion per year. well the uk spends

our health editor, hugh pym, has more. ambulance siren. to do the best i can for the patients that i‘m seeing., but i‘m not being given the resources to do thatjob properly. twitter carried reports from some staff at other hospitals. an emergency doctor in stoke said he personally apologised to local people for what he called third world conditions due to overcrowding. nhs england has told hospitals to postpone all non—urgent operations and outpatient appointments until the end of january, an escalation of temporary measures announced just before christmas. in that time hospitals won‘t be penalised for putting patients in mixed sex wards. this is a planned response to a winter that we knew was going to be difficult and we are managing that in the way that we expected and we‘re taking early action. we are not waiting to have to respond to a problem. the authorities in scotland, wales and northern ireland have said they‘re facing high demand from patients and more on frontline services. with flu cases on the increase, the worry now is that a

doesn't seem to change. horrendous trolley waits, and it doesn't seem to change. 0ur health editor hugh pym83—year—old blanche on a trolley in pain for example — thankfully she's back home now. but how representative is that of uk hospitals as a whole? well, i think it is sophie. particularly the fact under great pressure the nhs can deliver safe quality care, thanks to dedicated staff and patients like blanche can get home. it illustrates that staff are feeling under huge strain, they have never seen anything like it, previous winters haven't been as bad as this. as we heard some are considering leaving their careers early, if this continues. that is a real workforce charge, we learned last week that more nurses are leaving thanjoining last week that more nurses are leaving than joining the last week that more nurses are leaving thanjoining the nhs in england, the government says it has put more money into creating more places for more nurse, it has put more money into english a&e units to help with the pressures this winter. what we also learned is there is confusion over the stats, so im

hugh pym is here. you havejust been speaking to the health secretary.he prime minister has spoken this morning. what does this tell us about the government's approach to this? it is interesting that the transport secretary was abroad during the railfare increase situation yesterday, wide criticism of that. here we have the health secretary andy prime minister coming out to talk about the state of the nhs after these very widespread reports of extreme pressure, doctors tweeting and talking about hospitals being in third world conditions and overcrowding. i think they felt they had to take this head on. the health secretary, jeremy hunt, has apologised to patients. theresa may has said it is disappointing and frustrating for patients. they are making this point, as we heard in catherine's piece, that it is best to announce this sort of thing now, through nhs england, to take anything that is not urgent out of the equation so that senior doctors can be used to help with emergency ca re can be used to help with emergency care and assessing patients, to get

hugh pym, thank you.find out how your local hospital is performing you can use the bbc‘s nhs tracker at www. bbc. co. uk/nhstracker. the prime minister has pledged to eliminate avoidable plastic waste within 25 years as part of a far—reaching plan to improve britain's environment. she has urged supermarkets to introduce aisles where shoppers can buy products with no plastic packaging. a small charge for disposable plastic bags will also be extended to all shops, notjust big retailers. theresa may called plastic waste "one of the great environmental scourges of our time". but environmentalists have criticised the plans saying they lack urgency, detail and bite. here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. there's huge public anxiety about plastic litter, since david attenborough‘s blue planet series revealed sea creatures eating plastic waste. the prime minister's surfing that wave of concern — aiming for votes from young people who care deeply about the environment they will inherit. while the water in

our health editor hugh pym is outside the hospital in oxford.uns this hospital says patients should be completely reassured there has been no change in policy whatsoever and they should continue to expect high standards of ca re continue to expect high standards of care but in a timely fashion, but this leaked e—mail shows that doctors there are seriously concerned about workforce shortages, difficulties recruiting trained cancer nurses, and they think chemotherapy will be affected. they are considering reducing the doses for patients who are terminally ill. it has been said that, for some patients who don't need chemotherapy urgently, there are delays of one to two weeks, but the trust says that is still within the target. the trust has acknowledged there are serious problems with workforce in the area and difficulties recruiting, and cancer research uk says this issue must be urgently addressed. conservation charities say they've been "overwhelmed" by the number of stranded seals found along the cornish coast over the last few weeks. record nu

chemotherapy treatment, as nurse numbers are down by about a0 %. down by about a0%. 0ur health editor hugh pym what is happening there, explain the back ground to this? well, the background sophie is this leaked e—mail is from a very senior doctor here at the churchill hospital, a leading cancer care centre in this pa rt leading cancer care centre in this part of england. it follows a meeting with clinical leads, that is other leading clinicians in the hospital. where it is said that because of staffing shortages for cancer nurses, they are beginning to delay the start of chemotherapy for some cancer patients, to four week, the national target is four weeks for the start of the treatment, so they will remain within their target, but clearly implied in this is there will be some patients who might have started chemo therapy within a couple of week, that is moved out to four. four. for your gent cases keep their pip will continue as usual but there will be possible changes for others maybe in a terminal stage of cancer, the amount of chemotherapy they get. the trust here, which covers the church

catherine burns, bbc news. 0ur health editor hugh pym is here.e prime minister apologising today for delays to operations, that are to come, and these figures today show that last week, the last week of 2017, the system was already under strain. well, that is right. the wave of publicity of problems in hospitals really only developed from the weekend on wards, and these figures go weekend on wards, and these figures 9° up weekend on wards, and these figures go up until last sunday, december sist. go up until last sunday, december 31st. they show the big increase in patient demand, this sharp increase in the number of people calling 111, up in the number of people calling 111, up 21% on the previous week, and those long waits for patients trying to be discharged from ambulances outside hospital wait morgue than 30 minute, 30 minutes is considered the absolute maximum, those waiting longer, that was up nearly 40% at nearly 17,000, compared with round 10,000 in the last week of november. so showing the real strain. that is an interesting gauge. if a

our health editor, hugh pym, has the latest.tions bring new worries for patients like anna. she is due to have facial reconstruction surgery. is due to have facial reconstruction surgery. that an appointment next week but that is in doubt and her hopes of the operation happening in january seem likely to be dashed. it's impacting my life quite a bit. i drool quite a lot now which is quite frustrating, and i am very uncomfortable with it. i think it will improve my quality of life quite a lot to have it. today the health secretaryjeremy hunt pushed for explanations, said sorry to those patients affected. for explanations, said sorry to those patients affectedli for explanations, said sorry to those patients affected. i want to apologise for the fact we have had to regrettably postpone a number of operations. we are trying to do it differently this year. last year we cancelled a lot of operations at the very last minute so people got a call the day before to say their operation wasn't going ahead. that is obviously very undesirabl

our health editor hugh pym reports. there is always great pressure on the nhs in the new year. off until after the seasonal holiday. but the strains seem even bigger this year. two ambulance services in england, covering the north—east and east, are on the highest state of operational alert, asking families to use their own transport to bring patients into hospital for possible. here in the north—east, they say they've prepared as much as they possibly could. it's unprecedented levels of demand that we're dealing with — you know, if i take just the period from the 23rd of december until the ist of january, we've seen 30% more calls. now, you know, we do plan for winter. we start planning in the summer, so we are predicting and forecasting activity from historic periods, but we didn't anticipate a 30% increase. the trust running scarborough and york hospital said there were high numbers of patients, and staff were under considerable pressure. one doctor said in his view it was unprecedented. i've worked in a number of different emergency departments around the country, and that'

our health editor, hugh pym is here with more details. what has been going on?nt and emergency target for patients to be discharged after admitting, that is a gauge of how well it is doing, what the statistics watchdog is saying, is, we are not sure if you are calculating these figures accurately, people may have reached misleading conclusions about how well or not the local hospital is doing, following information supplied by the bbc about how walking centres and minor injury centres a re walking centres and minor injury centres are treated by the trust, they are allowed to include them in figures if they run the centres but not if they are elsewhere in the local community run by a different provider. it seems at least six trusts started doing this and it improved their performance, it may well have been more. an e—mail seed by the bbc suggests they may have beenin by the bbc suggests they may have been in courage to do so by the regulator, nhs improvement, they say it is up to individual trusts to accurately report these figures, there is no intention to artif

hugh pym, bbc news.k to roy lilley — a former nhs trust chairman and now a health commentator. thank you very much indeed for being with us. this letter from these very senior doctors. they are talking about intolerable situations, saying people are dying prematurely. is that your view? is this an exaggeration riveter reality of the nhs today? i think it's the truth. it is going on every day. managers have been saying it, chief executives have been saying it, the nurses have been saying it and now the doctors are saying it. hopefully the doctors are saying it. hopefully the government to listen. it is as bad as bad as i have seen it in all my years in and around the health service. what is the one key reason, would you say? is it simply that there are not enough beds in hospitals? we have 100,000, perhaps a few more beds, and when they are full, they are full. primary care's job is to keep people out of hospital and they can't do that. social services job is to get people home safely and keep them there

our health editor hugh pym said one of the things to emerge from the bbc‘s filming at north tees hospital or not the nhs is doing. we learnt that the rapid assessment units, with patients waiting up to six hours, isn't including in that hospital statistics. we've also learnt that other hospitals are including different minor injuries centres often run by other providers, which is also very, very confusing. the uk stats watchdog has said today it wants to look into all of this because it thinks it is all seriously misleading for patients. the headlines on bbc news: henry bolton insisted he will not step down, despite 12 party officials resigning from their party roles in protest. the us government partial shutdown is set to end after senators agreed a temporary funding bill. the head of the army wants that britain's military may struggle to respond to future threat unless it gets more money. —— warned that. more now on the speech by general sir nick carter claiming britain's armed forces risk falling behind that of russia without more investment. in a speech at the royal united service ins

our health editor, hugh pym, has more. ambulance siren.eat pressure on the nhs in the new year. but the strains seem even bigger this year. two ambulance services in england, covering the north—east and east, are on the highest state of operational alert, asking families to use their own transport to bring patients into hospital where possible. the trust running scarborough and york hospitals said high numbers of patients and staff were under considerable pressure. i've worked in a number of different emergency departments around the country and that's the worst i've seen. ijust want to do a good job. i want to do the best i can for the patients that i'm seeing., but i'm not being given the resources to do thatjob properly. twitter carried reports from some staff at other hospitals. an emergency doctor in stoke said he personally apologised to local people for what he called third world conditions due to overcrowding. nhs england has told hospitals to postpone all non—urgent operations and outpatient appointments until the end of january,