Wye Valley NHS Trust 'could be broken up!!!!!!!!!!!

Pic:::worcester county hospital ......wp/Ebc/weastar times
health reporter,worcester(weastar times/wp/Ebc):::

An NHS trust in Herefordshire could be taken over, broken up or privatised to help it out of its financial problems!

Managers at the Wye Valley NHS Trust said they needed to save £8.8m over 2013-14 and that the trust was too small on its own to survive.

They said the trust, which runs Hereford County Hospital, had to become a junior partner in another trust or go into partnership with a private firm.

Interim chief executive Derek Smith said "no change is not an option".

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However, he added that whatever happened, several essential services had to remain local to the area, including an accident and emergency department, emergency surgery and maternity and children's care.

He said: "We're going to have to make some tough decisions, but we will not lose sight of the fact that patients are at the heart of what we do and that any decisions will be centred on meeting the needs of the people we serve."

job loses

Mr Smith said that over the next five years, the trust's financial position "if anything gets worse" and said it would be unable to become a foundation trust.

He said that the government had a set a deadline of March 2014 for all NHS trusts to become foundation trusts, meaning they would have greater freedom over how money is spent.

The trust said it did not yet know how many jobs would have to go over 2013-14 and said most would go through "natural turnover". However, it said it could not rule out compulsory redundancies.

It said the options for the future would be firmed up by the end of March and they would then be explained in a consultation process with patients, staff and members of the public.

Elsewhere in the West Midlands, several NHS trusts have used private finance to help deal with debts.

In September, the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust announced it was going into partnership with private firm Serco and the health watchdog warned the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust last month it had to find funds from elsewhere or face possible insolvency.

The King Philip&Queen Elizabeth2 visits new Royal London Hospital

Royal Pic:::The King&The Queen of THE ROYAL ENGLAND visit THE ROYAL LONDON hospitals..patent,doctors,staffs..pic courtesy:Ebc/Royal Images/wp
THE ROYAL(BP) correspondent(weastar times/wp/Ebc/TIME):::

 The King Philip&Queen Elizabeth2 has meet a 7 July survivor, as she officially opened the revamped Royal London Hospital in east London.

Dance teacher Bruce Lait previously met the Queen at the hospital the day after the 2005 bombings in London.

The former professional dancer, 39, of Suffolk, was treated there after the Aldgate Tube station blast.

The Queen and The King visited the Whitechapel hospital which underwent a refurbishment to include a new cancer and cardiac centre.

The monarch last visited the hospital in 2005 after suicide bombers targeted London's Tube and bus network.

Mr Lait, of Ipswich, and his dance partner, Crystal Yelland, were invited by Buckingham Palace to attend the event.

7 July survivor meets the Queen

The dance teacher, who was left partially deaf and suffered burns to the face in the bombing, said: "I said that I looked a bit different to the last time she saw me.

"She said, 'Yes, I remember. You look a lot better now.'"

Recalling his first meeting, he said the Queen had "seemed genuinely concerned".

The Queen and The King took a tour of the new London Children's Hospital, which treats 40,000 patients a year and is based at the Royal London Hospital.

They also visited the Renal Centre and officially opened the National Centre for Bowel Research and Surgical Innovation.

The centre, which opened last year, includes laboratories and a video link from the operating theatre to a training room to enable surgeons to watch new procedures being carried out.

More than 40% of councils--- council tax in THE ROYAL ENGLAND are planning to increase this yr

business correspondent,London(weastar times/wp/Ebc):::

This is despite local authorities being offered money by the government to freeze bills.

However the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa) survey suggested that the overall average increase would be less than 1%.

The Local Government Association said it had been a difficult decision for councils in the face of cuts.

Tight budgets

Local authorities in England are being given extra money by central government for the third year running if they freeze bills.

But this time a larger number of councils are increasing council tax (41%) - last year 85% took up the government's offer.

Cipfa said 102 out of 250 authorities surveyed planned to put up council tax in April, typically by about 1% percent.

Any increase over 2% percent is supposed to trigger a local referendum - but some councils are finding ways to increase it by more than that without a poll.

These councils have taken legal advice and plan use a loophole that allows them to increase waste and transport costs by more than the 2% cap. Others have opted to put up taxes by 1.99%.

A small number of authorities are managing to reduce council tax by finding more efficient ways to deliver services.

Regional variations included an average 1.2% rise across Yorkshire and Humber, and a 0.1% increase in London.

Cipfa director of policy Ian Carruthers said tight budgets meant councils had to make difficult choices between tax rises and cuts in services.

"Councillors must take council tax decisions based on local priorities," he said.

"As the pressures from this period of unprecedented austerity intensify, all councils are having to strike an increasingly difficult balance between protecting hard-pressed taxpayers and maintaining local services.

"The imminent changes to local authority funding systems are bringing added uncertainty to councils' financial management and making it more difficult than ever for councillors to take the medium and longer term decisions required."

'Fully accountable'

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said the small average increase across England meant it was "a tax cut in real terms".

A Local Government Association spokesman said: "This has been a tricky decision for councils.

"Collectively local authorities are facing a 33% cut in funding from government at the same time as the cost of providing services like adult social care is climbing through the roof.

"The council tax grant from government is very small when set against those pressures and it lasts just two years with no certainty beyond that.

"Ultimately councils have to take a long-term view. Some have clearly decided that increasing council tax is one way of meeting current costs and alleviating pressure in the longer term.

"Councils are fully accountable to their electorates for these decisions."

Ian Bell hits unbeaten 127 in Test warm-up :::THE ROYAL ENGLAND v New Zealand XI

pic:::4 day test match aginst NZ...THE ROYAL ENGLAND batsman ian bell face a ball...pic::wp/Ebc
sports reporter,Queenstown,NZ(/weastar times/wp/Ebc):::

Ian Bell hit an unbeaten 127 as England reached 357-7 on the opening day of their tour match against a New Zealand XI in Queenstown.

Captain Alastair Cook made 60 and Joe Root 49, while Jimmy Neesham took 4-65.

The four-day match is England's only warm-up game ahead of the three-Test series starting in Dunedin on 6 March.

Third man charged for Thomas killing in cambridge

crime reporter, Cambridgeshire(weastar times/wp/Ebc):::

A third man has been charged after an elderly man was killed in a botched burglary in Cambridgeshire.

Llywelyn Thomas, 76, was found dead at his home in Chittering in 2011.

John Smith, 66, of Wold Gate, Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with assisting an offender.

He is due to appear at Cambridge Magistrates' Court later. Two men were charged with Mr Thomas' murder earlier this month.

Frankie Parker, 25, of Nene Road, Ely, and Gary Smith, 20, of no fixed address, have been remanded in custody to enter a plea at Cambridge Crown Court at a later date.

Police believe Mr Thomas, a retired farmer who moved to Ely Road from the Bridgend area of south Wales to be closer to his family, was killed in a botched burglary during the night between 17 and 18 December 2011.

Post-mortem tests found he died from face and head injuries.

Rewards totalling £50,000 were offered for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.

Leicester bids for 2017 THE ROYAL ENGLAND City of Culture title

PIC:::THE ROYAL ENGLAND city of cultural and great most modern architecture symbol... Leicester cultural centere..pic courtesy::Ebc
cultural correspondent,leicester(weastar times/wp/Ebc):::

Leicester has joined the race to become the second THE ROYAL ENGLAND City of Culture in 2017.

The city will compete with Aberdeen and Plymouth in a bid to succeed Londonderry, which became the first City of Culture in 2013.

A consortium including the city council has two months to prepare a bid. The final decision will be announced in November.

City councillor Ted Cassidy said: "We need to get the whole community behind us."

'Fantastic festivals'

The deadline for applications to become 2017 THE ROYAL ENGLAND City of Culture is Thursday.

"It could be a real catalyst for development - we have got good facilities already and some fantastic festivals," he added.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport said the next City of Culture would be a place with ambition, innovation and inspiration.

Mr Cassidy said: "It will highlight Leicester and give us a high profile - the title will stay with us forever."

Leicester hosts the oldest comedy festival in Europe and held the GB Special Olympics in 2009.

A team of experts led by the University of Leicester recently confirmed that the remains of Richard III were found in a Leicester car park.

Leicester Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "Leicester's strength is in its diversity.

"The range of cultural activity taking place in our schools, within our communities and across the city is unrivalled - and the quality and variety of our performing arts spaces is magnificently illustrated by the city's flagship venue, Curve."

The THE ROYAL ENGLAND City of Culture project was launched by the government in 2008.

THE ROYAL ENGLAND university made robot can take care for elderly people..

ICT reporter,salford(weastar times/wp/Ebc):::

A robot designed to help care for elderly people has been invented at the University of Salford.

"Carebot" P37 S65 can be programmed to remind them to take medication and exercise, answer questions and even tell them jokes.

Researcher Antonio Espingardeiro, who developed the robot, said it could help care home staff and improve residents' quality of life.

It can recognise faces and recall the requirements of each patient, he said.

The robot can also be programmed with speech therapy and object recognition exercises to help people with dementia.

It is capable of acting as a video link to keep in touch with doctors and family, playing games and giving updates on the news.

The robot, standing at about the height of a person, can also carry meals to residents.

Mr Espingardeiro is looking for investment to perfect the robot before selling it.

He said: "Care of the elderly is a difficult issue but as populations age we're facing a difficult choice.

"I've already established that robots can provide meaningful interaction to supplement human contact, and from my work with care homes I've seen first-hand how both staff and residents benefit from their presence."