Sheffield: Experts voice flood defence fears

Flood defence experts in England have written to the government to voice their "deep concern" about the maintenance of defences in the future - reports the BBC.

They say much more money is needed for improvements or flooding will cost the country and the economy dearly.

The letter, sent to Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, has been signed by the chairmen of all the flood defence committees in England.

In it, they say they cannot overstate the impact the recent flooding had.

They give the example of Sheffield and Rotherham, South Yorkshire, which came very close to losing all their power for an extended period.

The chairmen add that the growing intensity of extreme weather events means flooding will become more frequent and that current levels of funding are not sufficient to carry out the work that is needed.

The letter calls for more investment to manage the problem because, they say, the country has no choice but to adapt to its changing climate.

It was contained in the minutes of the meeting of the Yorks Regional Flood Defence Committee, which has been taking place in Leeds.

The Environment Agency says it will need to spend £750m a year over the next three years to protect areas threatened by floods.

The amount currently offered by the government falls short, meaning a number of projects have been put on hold.

These include a £100m scheme for Leeds, and plans to replace York's defences, which have been deemed inadequate.

The agency also estimates that it needs £150m a year over the next 10 years just to bring its existing assets up to standard.

NHS 'hygiene standards struggle'

The BBC reports today that NHS trusts in England are struggling to meet key hygiene standards, according to data submitted to the NHS watchdog.

A quarter of the trusts report they are not complying with one of the three standards relating to the hygiene code, covering areas including cleanliness.

A spokesman for Patient Concern said: "This is terrible. It is bad news for patients and shows trusts are not getting the basics right."

In total there are , covering everything from clinical effectivness to governance.

England's 394 trusts self-declare how they are doing against 24 core NHS standards, which then help determine their overall NHS rating.

The Healthcare Commission now has to verify the data by cross-checking the information against its own intelligence, audits and surveys by other organisations and through a system of targeted spot-checks.

Trusts did best in meeting standards covering professional codes of practice, whistle-blowing and openness.

There was also a rise in the number of trusts reporting they met the two standards relating to compliance with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which issues advice on new treatments.

But with the three standards that relate to hygiene, compliance had fallen.

In particular, on reducing the risk of infection, 14% said they had failed, up from 7% last year.
A similar number said they could not say they decontaminated equipment properly - up from 12.6%.

TRUSTS FAILING ALL HYGIENE STANDARDS

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
Sheffield Primary Care Trust
Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust
Wiltshire Primary Care Trust

Over one in 10 did not meet cleanliness standards either.

It meant that 99 trusts - one in four of the total - were not meeting the hygiene code.

Sheffield: Operations postponed amid flood of emergency patients

A Yorkshire hospital that found itself overloaded with seriously ill patients was forced to postpone 36 operations in two days, reports the Yorkshire Post.

The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that over the weekend higher than average numbers of emergency patients had over-stretched resources, forcing the Northern General Hospital to postpone 26 operations yesterday and a further 10 today.