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‘The chance to live’

Victoria Tremlett - Tor‘Every day is a tremendous struggle’

When she was first assessed she was told she had just 18 months to live. Now she knows time is running out, but is determined to fight.

“I have so many dreams that I want to accomplish,” she said.

“I’m not ready for my life to be over yet. Transplant is a risk but it’s the best chance I have.

“If I do get my transplant in time I will never forget the kind stranger and their family who gave me the chance to live, they would be remembered with every single breath.

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“I am constantly aware half the people on the transplant list die because of the chronic lack of donors. It’s heartbreaking.

“The list is a lottery, utterly dependent on the perfect match. I’m literally on borrowed time.”

But she says waiting for the call from Harefield Hospital that could change her life has taken its toll.

“Every single day is a fight to keep going, and the possibility of getting that call for transplant is the glint of hope that pulls me through each day,” she said.

“At 23 this is not the life I planned for myself – restricted, dependant and often terrifying.”

Tor knows that the next infection could be her last.

Cystic fibrosisThere is a shortage of donor organs and about 30-40% of patients will die on the waiting list.The first successful heart-lung transplant for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) was performed in 198575% of available donor lungs in the UK are considered unusable due to poor function

“I have 20% lung function so there isn’t much to lose,” she said.

“Every day is a tremendous struggle, I am exhausted from morning to night, I use oxygen 24/7 to support my failing lungs and a wheelchair to get around outside.

“I have a non-invasive ventilator to help clear my lungs of mucus and each night I pass a tube through my nose and down my throat and into my stomach to do overnight feeding. Maintaining weight is crucial to staying on the transplant list.

“I need help to do the simplest task. Getting washed, brushing my hair, dressing are all beyond me now as I get so breathless. Mum has to help me with everything.

“My treatment regime is enormous now and it’s a constant effort to try and retain the lung function I have.”

In a bid to tell others about what it is like living on the transplant list, Tor tweets and blogs.

“I had read other transplant blogs which I found both reassuring and enlightening, and I wanted to do that for someone else.

“Her blog is very popular and really gives you an insight into what it is like when you are desperately waiting for that phone call”

Gemma Matthews Cystic Fibrosis Trust

“I also wanted a record of life pre-transplant so that I would never forget the biggest roller-coaster journey of my life.

“Blogging has given me so much I wouldn’t have dreamed possible. Waiting for transplant is such an emotional, unbelievably difficult time but blogging is a cathartic experience that really helps me to deal with how I’m feeling.

“It has also given me confidence to talk about my story and share it with others to raise awareness of organ donation.

“At a time in my life when lots of things are out of my control, being able to raise awareness and help not only myself but others is hugely important to me.

“The response to my blog has been brilliant, I’ve met so many lovely people and got so much support. At my lowest times I’ve been touched by all the love and kindness sent my way. It’s really helped me keep going.

“There are currently 8,000 people waiting for an organ transplant and by encouraging others to sign the donor list I am increasing the chances for everyone waiting including myself.

“My story is the best tool I have at my disposal to let others know the reality of waiting for transplant and make them realise what a difference organ donation can make.”

Gemma Matthews from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust said that it was through patients like Tor being brave enough to tell their stories that the cause is highlighted.

“For young people like her, who are very ill awaiting a transplant and spend a lot of time at home, blogging is a link to the outside world and a way of documenting the ups and downs of life on the transplant list.

“Her blog is very popular and really gives you an insight into what it is like when you are desperately waiting for that phone call.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Charity warns over child drinkers

A child drinking alcohol

The charity Alcohol Concern has issued a stark warning about the number of children drinking at dangerous levels.

It has published a report estimating the cost of hospital treatment for underage drinkers in England to be about £19m a year.

And the number of under-18s ending up in hospital after drinking too much is rising, the charity has warned.

Young people should be given more support it says, but one expert said parents also have a role to play.

Alcohol Concern’s report, entitled Right Time, Right Place, states that alcohol contributes to 5% of young people’s deaths – 1.4% more than in the adult population – and is “a significant problem for the UK”.

The UK also has the highest rates of teenage alcohol-related injuries in Europe.

“The wider community has a major role in pressing for policies around price, availability and marketing of alcohol that protect children”

Prof Sir Iain Gilmore Alcohol Health Alliance UK

The number of under-18s admitted to hospital in England, where alcohol was a factor, increased from 10,976 in 2002/3 to 14,501 in 2007/8.

In 2008/9 the number of admissions fell to 12,832.

All these admissions figure exclude emergency department attendances, which could increase the number.

Last year, 8,799 under-18s accessed specialist treatment for tackling alcohol problems, the report says.

The report calls for earlier identification of young people engaged in ‘risky’ drinking, such as young people attending A&E or getting into trouble with the police for alcohol.

The minute that alcohol appears to be becoming a problem for a young person aged under 18, information, advice and support should be provided, Alcohol Concern says.

Don Shenker, chief executive of the charity, said that drinking in children is a “huge problem”.

“Some of these youngsters are as young as 10. Remember these are children we are talking about and their bodies can’t process alcohol like adults can.”

“We are extremely concerned about the damage to children’s health.”

He maintained the costs of early intervention are far less than the costs of treating the health problems of long-term alcohol misuse by children and young people.

“Training medical staff as alcohol specialists is a cost-effective measure. The ‘do nothing option’ is far more costly,” Mr Shenker said.

Professor Jonathan Shepherd, who directs Cardiff University’s Violence and Society Research Group, said: “These findings demonstrate as never before the need to capitalise on every episode of emergency treatment to educate and protect.”

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said: “We know that heavy drinking from an early age can diminish the life chances of the young person involved. It is important that parents realise they are role models – their behaviour in relation to alcohol has more impact than what they tell their children.

“Equally, the wider community has a major role in pressing for policies around price, availability and marketing of alcohol that protect children.”

Susie Ramsay, policy adviser at The Children’s Society, said that money and time could be saved if more resources were focused on preventative services.

“Early intervention and preventative services have a proven track record, particularly with relation to young people’s substance misuse.

“If these are put in place, the number of young people being admitted to A&E due to drinking is bound to be reduced and money saved.”

A spokesperson from the Department of Health said: “This report shows the devastating impact that alcohol has on the lives young people who drink too much.

“We must educate them so they understand how bad it is for their health now and in the long term. And we must do more to stop shops selling alcohol to under 18s.

“Everyone has a part to play in this. Parents, police, education and social services need to work together.

“The new Public Health Service will give communities the power and budget to tackle alcohol problems in their areas.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Jane Austen’s elegant style ‘may not be hers’

Jane AustenAusten completed six novels in her lifetime

The elegant writing style of novelist Jane Austen may have been the work of her editor, an academic has claimed.

Professor Kathryn Sutherland of Oxford University reached her conclusion while studying 1,100 original handwritten pages of Austen’s unpublished writings.

The manuscripts, she states, feature blots, crossing outs and “a powerful counter-grammatical way of writing”.

She adds: “The polished punctuation and epigrammatic style we see in Emma and Persuasion is simply not there.”

Professor Sutherland of the Faculty of English Language and Literature claims her findings refute the notion of Austen as “a perfect stylist”.

It suggests, she continues, that someone else was “heavily involved” in the editing process.

She believes that person to be William Gifford, an editor who worked for Austen’s publisher John Murray II.

Analysis

Jane Austen is widely celebrated as a supreme stylist – a writer of perfectly polished sentences.

Yet after studying more than a thousand handwritten pages of the novelist’s unpublished manuscripts, Professor Kathryn Sutherland of Oxford University has concluded that Austen’s style was far more free-flowing and featured a limited range of punctuation.

Letters between Austen’s publisher and an editor who worked with him acknowledge the untidiness of her writing.

According to Professor Sutherland, they suggest it was the editor who then intervened to sharpen the prose of one of English Literature’s most popular writers.

The research formed part of an initiative to create an online archive of all of Austen’s handwritten fiction manuscripts.

The three-year project – in which King’s College London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library in London were involved – is due to be launched on 25 October.

Professor Sutherland, an Austen authority, said studying her unpublished manuscripts gave her “a more intimate appreciation” of the author’s talents.

The manuscripts, she went on, “reveal Austen to be an experimental and innovative writer, constantly trying new things.”

They also show her “to be even better at writing dialogue and conversation than the edited style of her published novels suggest.”

Jane Austen (1775-1817) completed six novels in her lifetime, two of which were published posthumously.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Identity crisis

Amanda LaidlerAmanda Laidler was caught in the firing line as a result of identity thieves

Amanda Laidler freely admits she is one of the many small business owners who did not regard financial data security as a top priority.

But all that changed the day that her credit card processors refused to cover the cost of £2,000 worth of goods, sold online to a customer who had stolen someone else’s financial identity and credit card details.

It was money the co-founder of Welcomebabyhome, a Sunderland babywear boutique, could not afford to lose.

“We felt sick. Everything had gone out before we became suspicious. We had asked for checks to be carried out by our card processors which had not been done,” she says.

“We were upset because somebody’s card was being used in this way, and because of the harm to our business.”

As a result, the way the store handles its billing – and indeed all its customer data – has been turned upside down. Background checks are run on staff and she phones back customers making larger transactions to check they are who they say they are.

It has been such a turnaround that the firm is proud to have just won a national award for its efforts fighting identity fraud.

Criminals who steal other peoples financial identities to obtain goods and services or open fraudulent bank accounts gain more than £1,000 from each single identity stolen.

That is one of the latest statistics from a study just completed by the National Fraud Authority and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

The report puts the annual cost of identity fraud at over £2.7bn. More than 1.8 million people are affected by identity fraud every year. The number of cases coming to light has risen by almost 10% in the first nine months of this year.

Fraudsters may use identities they have personally purloined, or they might buy them in bulk from covert operators on the internet.

Tips for protecting your identityShred personal documents before throwing outCheck bank and credit card statements carefullyContact a bank or credit card company if a statement fails to arriveGet regular copies of a credit report from a credit reference agencyMake sure computers have up-to-date anti-virus software installedUse all the privacy settings available on social networking sites but do not put too much personal information up thereGet Royal Mail to redirect your post when moving houseDo not ignore bills, invoices or receipts for things you have not bought – contact the company immediatelyWhen registering to vote, tick the box to say you do not want to be included in the edited electoral register – that means your details cannot be sold on

Source: Action Fraud

The proceeds are then used to obtain goods, services and benefits in the victims name. Fraudulent bank accounts are opened, and the perpetrators commit all kinds of crimes from evading police detection to enabling people trafficking and terrorism.

Few of us can say we are never careless about disclosing details of our identities to strangers.

Not all of us choose to display personal information online on Facebook or other social networking sites.

But on the simplest level, many of us worry about exactly what happens to our credit card when a waiter walks off with it in a restaurant. Should we protest when we set up a tab in a bar and see the card casually thrown into a transparent glass on the back of the bar?

So while we may have ourselves to blame, could it be that too many merchants are still being cavalier with our data?

Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses says that is not the case.

“We do not think small businesses are naive or slapdash with peoples data,” he says.

“This is just the latest of many kinds of criminal activity that can affect them. Of course, they will deal with it when it affects them, but we do urge businesses to take this seriously.

“We estimate the cost of a single hit can be around £3,000. That is to retrieve and reverse the situation and to tighten systems to try and ensure it does not happen again.”

Dr Bernard Herdan is chief executive of the National Fraud Authority a government agency charged with leading the drive against rising levels of fraud in the public and private sectors.

“[People] may even see something abnormal on their bank statement – but still do not flag it up”

Dr Bernard Herdan National Fraud Authority

His office displays a photograph of a room used by a criminal gang to forge passports and other financial and identity documents.

What is particularly worrying is that much of the computer equipment used there, almost everything you need to try and pass yourself off as someone else, can be obtained from household-name computer stores – even the necessary high-quality printers.

“People are aware this is a problem, but are still not thinking enough about what they do when they go on the internet,” Dr Herdan says.

“For example, they still respond to requests for bank details. People should check their credit status regularly with one of the agencies.

“Others may even see something abnormal on their bank statement – but still do not flag it up.”

Not all identity thieves prefer to go phishing for your details online. Others are perfectly happy to fish through rubbish bins outside firms and offices for carelessly discarded invoices, receipts, bills, bank and credit card statements. These remain a rich source of personal data.

Repairing the damage to your identity and financial reputation is stressful and time-consuming.

An individual’s ability to borrow could be destroyed for months on end.

The good news, if there is any, is that there are now clearer processes and set procedures to work through if you find someone has purloined your details.

But the National Fraud Authority warns in trickier cases it may still take 200 hours to sort out a single case. That is the same amount of time, on average, as most people spend on annual leave.

That alone is a great argument for guarding your identity more carefully in future.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

French Senate passes pension bill

Protesters in Bordeaux, 22/10As many as three million protesters have taken to the streets in recent weeks

The French Senate has passed a controversial pension reform bill, which has caused a series of strikes and protests around France.

The senators approved President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, and it could become law as early as next week.

Mr Sarkozy says the measure is necessary to reduce the deficit.

But hundreds of thousands have protested against what they see as an attack on their rights.

Senators passed the motion to raise the retirement age by 177 votes to 153, after the government used a special measure known as a guillotine to cut short the debate on the bill.

The protest movement has been spearheaded by the trade unions, although all sections of society have been represented – including schoolchildren.

Most of the rallies have been peaceful, but on Friday clashes broke out at an oil refinery blockaded by workers after Mr Sarkozy ordered riot police to get control of the facility.

Two people were hurt outside the Grandpuits refinery east of Paris, which has been embargoed for the past 10 days.

The unions are blockading 12 facilities in a bid to change the government’s mind.

Opponents of the bill will now have a chance to take their objections to the constitutional court, before the bill becomes law.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Judge rejects Bez assault appeal

Mark Berry and former partner Monica Ward, pictured in 2006Bez was trying to overturn a conviction for assaulting his former partner

Ex-Happy Mondays dancer Bez has lost an appeal against a conviction for assaulting his former partner.

Bez – real name Mark Berry – was warned by a judge at Manchester Crown Court that he could be arrested after reacting angrily in court to the verdict.

The former Celebrity Big Brother winner was also ordered to pay £500 costs.

He was jailed for four weeks in August for attacking his ex-partner Monica Ward.

“It’s a joke,” Bez said from the dock. “I’m going to take this to a higher court.

“I’m not paying nothing.”

Judge Roger Dutton, hearing the day-long appeal with two magistrates, told Bez he would need to take legal advice before taking any further appeal to the High Court.

“What a stitch-up,” Bez replied, before the judge retorted: “I would be very careful what you choose to say.

“If you express yourself in that way again I will have you arrested.”

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Bez, who found fame in the 1980s for his freaky dancing in the Happy Mondays, was jailed after a row over money with Ms Ward, the mother of his two-year-old child.

The policeman’s son was convicted after a trial and originally given a community order and asked to pay £450 in costs.

But he was jailed for a month after refusing to serve the sentence.

Bez, whose legal costs are being paid by the taxpayer as he is unemployed and legally aided, was appealing to try to overturn the conviction at the higher crown court.

But although the court heard there were “inconsistencies” in the prosecution claims, the bench rejected Bez’s claims of a miscarriage of justice.

The judge said the defendant had shown “a good deal of anger” while giving evidence during the appeal.

Outside court, Bez was too angry to comment on the outcome.

His solicitor Peter Eatherall said it was “unlikely” the case would go to the Court of Appeal.

He read a statement from his client: “I am disappointed at the appeal ruling and have undertaken this appeal to clear my name, nothing more.”

Mr Eatherall added: “Bez is Bez, there is nothing behind the curtain, that is how he is and what he is. But he is not a violent man.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Grounded nuclear sub dragged free

HMS Astute surrounded by sea vessels

The BBC’s Iain MacDonald: “This submarine is well outside the navigation channel”

An operation has begun to free the grounded nuclear submarine HMS Astute after it ran aground off Skye.

A tug has been carefully pushing along one side of the boat which got into difficulty a few miles from the Skye road bridge.

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Described as the stealthiest ever built in the UK, the £1bn boat was out on sea trials and was not armed.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Astute’s rudder may have been damaged when it grounded on silt.

A spokeswoman said: “This is not a nuclear incident.

“We are responding to the incident and can confirm that there are no injuries to personnel and the submarine remains watertight.”

The spokeswoman added: “There is no indication of any environmental impact.”

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) was alerted to the incident at 0819 BST.

The Royal Navy said it was on silt, not rock, and hoped to re-float HMS Astute at high tide at about 1900 BST.

If this operation was successful, the boat will be towed to deeper waters and divers sent down to check for damage. The submarine would then be towed back to its base at Faslane on the Clyde over the course of several days.

There are concerns that if the vessel is not refloated on Friday evening, the next tide which is high enough could be in one weeks’ time.

Map

Eye-witness Ross McKerlich said the submarine was about a mile from his home and appeared slightly tilted.

He said: “When I woke up this morning and looked out my bedroom window I could see the submarine.

“I am very surprised how far in it has come as there are good navigational buoys there.”

Mr McKerlich added: “Earlier in the day they did have ropes and they were trying to tow but now the tide has gone back and they’re just standing off.”

HMS Astute. Pic: Alan HornerHMS Astute is believed to have been undergoing sea trials off Skye

Mr McKerlich said HMS Astute was in an area of shallow water where he would not risk taking his yacht.

The submarine has run aground outside the safe sea lane marked on Admiralty charts. The channel that runs underneath the Skye Bridge has red and green buoys known as lateral markers to ensure vessels do not run aground.

HMS Astute appeared to be lying in shallow water several hundred metres beyond that safe route. The Admiralty charts show submerged rocks in the area where the submarine has got into difficulty.

Martin Douglas, a former nuclear submarine engineer, said a concern for the crew was the provision of sea water to the boat’s reactor.

He said: “The sea provides the primary cooling for the reactor system.

“There are many, many levels of back up systems, but they may have to find some interesting ways of getting sea water supply to the reactor.”

Mr Douglas said the skipper and crew were highly trained to deal with extreme situations.

HMS Astute

A look around the Astute’s control room

But he added that as the tide dropped more HMS Astute would be on display and secrets of its propulsion revealed.

HMS Astute, built by BAE Systems in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, is believed to have been undergoing sea trials as it is not expected to enter service until next year.

Aside from attack capabilities, it is able to sit in waters off the coast undetected, delivering the UK’s special forces where needed or even listening to mobile phone conversations.

The 39,000 acoustic panels which cover its surface mask its sonar signature, meaning it can sneak up on enemy warships and submarines alike, or lurk unseen and unheard at depth.

The submarine can carry a mix of up to 38 Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes and Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise missiles, able to target enemy submarines, surface ships and land targets, while its sonar system has a range of 3,000 nautical miles.

Speaking to the BBC last month, HMS Astute’s commanding officer, Commander Andy Coles, said: “We have a brand new method of controlling the submarine, which is by platform management system, rather than the old conventional way of doing everything of using your hands.

“This is all fly-by-wire technology including only an auto pilot rather than a steering column.”

HMS Astute

Submarine HMS Trafalgar sustained millions of pounds worth of damage when it ran aground off Skye in 2002.

Two senior commanders were reprimanded after admitting that their negligence caused the incident.

The sea around Skye and the island of Raasay is used as a training ground for the Royal Navy.

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Wikileaks files ‘threaten troops’

US soldiers and Iraqi policemen at the site of a bomb attack in Kirkuk, 250km (155 miles) north of Baghdad - 27 September 2010The US has officially ended its combat mission in Iraq but tens of thousands of soldiers are still there

The US military says the expected release of classified documents on the Wikileaks website could endanger US and allied troops and Iraqi civilians.

The whistleblower website is thought to be about to post hundreds of thousands of US military files on the Iraq war.

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the leak could have “very negative security implications”.

A US defence spokesman said the documents concerned “significant activities” reported by units.

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The Pentagon has assembled a team of more than 100 analysts to prepare for the release of the documents.

A US defence department spokesman said the “stolen” documents should be returned to avoid potentially damaging information being released.

“By disclosing such sensitive information, Wikileaks continues to put at risk the lives of our troops, their coalition partners and those Iraqis and Afghans working with us,” said spokesman Geoff Morrell.

He said the documents were “essentially snapshots of events, both tragic and mundane, and do not tell the whole story.

“That said, the period covered by these reports has been well-chronicled in news stories, books and films and the release of these field reports does not bring new understanding to Iraq’s past.”

He added: “However, it does expose secret information that could make our troops even more vulnerable to attack in the future.”

Julian AssangeJulian Assange founded the Wikileaks whistleblower website in 2006

The Wikileaks website is currently down for “scheduled maintenance”, but promised on its Twitter feed a “major announcement in Europe” on Saturday morning.

It was not clear if this was the anticipated release of some 400,000 documents, expected since early in the week.

Speaking earlier on Friday, Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the “leaks may put soldiers as well as civilians at risk”.

Wikileaks has already angered the US government and military with its release in July of more than 70,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan.

Military officials warned at the time the leak could lead to the deaths of US soldiers and Afghan civilians because some of the documents contained the names of locals who had helped coalition forces.

But US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said in a letter to the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the leak had not revealed any “sensitive intelligence sources or methods”.

There have been fears such leaks could damage US intelligence sharing with other nations, as well as intelligence sharing between US agencies.

The investigation into the Afghan leak has focused on Bradley Manning, a US army intelligence analyst who is in custody and has been charged with providing Wikileaks with a classified video of a US helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007 in which a dozen people were killed.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

NI leaders seek meeting with PM

StormontMinisters will meet at Stormont on Friday to discuss the implications of the budget cuts

Finance Minister Sammy Wilson is to brief his executive colleagues on the implications of the Spending Review for their departmental budgets.

Assembly ministers will get a detailed briefing but will not be taking any decisions.

Mr Wilson said NI is facing cuts of £4bn over the next four years.

The assembly will return for a special session to discuss the impact of the Spending Review on the local economy next week.

Capital funds for roads, hospitals and public projects in NI will have to be cut by about 40% by 2014/15.

In terms of current spending, the money to pay wages and other regular costs will fall by 8% over four years.

Mr Wilson will circulate a spending paper next week.

The Department of Finance is at odds with the Treasury over the extent of the cuts.

Finance Minister Sammy Wilson arrived at an overall figure of £4bn by taking annual reductions in the Northern Ireland grant in each of the next four years and adding them together

The Treasury says the cut is less than half of that.

It arrives at its figure by comparing the NI grant for this financial year to what it will be in 2014/15.

Politicians in Northern Ireland have widely condemned the cuts, described by Secretary of State Owen Paterson as “a quite remarkable deal”.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams described the cuts facing Northern Ireland as “unacceptable”.

Mr Adams said Chancellor George Osborne showed “the awful ignorance of a British Tory minister in dictating how people here should live”.

He said the government should be “stimulating, not slashing” the economy.

Social Development Minister Alex Attwood has urged Northern Ireland minister’s to take a “mature” approach to managing the government’s spending review.

Mr Attwood said the executive must put the “poor and needy” at the heart of its financial planning.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Former health chief at inquiry

Norma EvansNorma Evans has been giving evidence to the inquiry

The former chief executive of the Northern Health Trust has said health officials told her during the C. diff outbreak, that negative publicity about the health service was unwelcome.

The inquiry was also told that the Trust was under-resourced both in financial and staffing terms.

An independent panel is reviewing an outbreak in Northern Trust hospitals between June 2007 and August 2008.

It has established that 31 people died from the outbreak.

As chief executive of the Northern Health Trust, Norma Evans, had overall responsibility for what happened during the C. diff outbreak.

She told the inquiry that the old structures of some of the buildings made it difficult to try and contain the infection.

Ms Evans said attempts were also hampered by poorer levels of nursing, medical and domestic staff.

The former chief executive said while she had regular meetings with departmental officials, including the Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, it was made clear to her that negative publicity about the health service was unwelcome.

She said while support was offered, it felt more about the department being seen to be offering help rather than actually giving it.

Ms Evans was also critical of the money given to fight hospital acquired infections.

She said the £9m was announced with great fanfare but in the second year failed to materialise.

Norma Evans resigned from her post in June 2009 after the trust was turned down for additional government funding.

The Trust’s medical director Dr Peter Flanagan told the inquiry on Friday that there was no proper C. diff surveillance in place at the time of the outbreak in the Northern Health Trust.

Dr Flanagan said initially, infections were monitored using a manual reporting system.

He said there was a time lag between between cases being reported and the overall figures being collated.

Between August 2007 and January 2008, with the exception of one month, Dr Flanagan said he was aware of a growing number of cases.

He said on 15 October, three months before a formal declaration of the outbreak, an action plan was developed.

Dr Flanagan said a Serious Adverse Incident report was sent to the Department of Health, which requested that a regional alert be issued about the 027 strain of the infection as this was the first time it had been identified in Northern Ireland.

While he acknowledged the outbreak has served as a wake-up call to the local health system, Dr Flanagan said it was an extremely stressful time for everyone involved.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.