Fears hospital closure to leave specialists stranded

The Mackay Division of General Practice says tenants at the Pioneer Valley Hospital in north Queensland have nowhere to go when they move out of the facility.

The hospital was forced to close last week after a Workplace Health and Safety report commissioned by the receivers found it was unsafe.

The practice’s chief executive, Christian Grieves, says many of the health specialists say they cannot find alternative accommodation.

He says he has tried contacting the receivers to negotiate, but has not had a response.

“I guess because they’re just the receiver, they aren’t really interested in having in-depth discussions, or they’re not really interested in how difficult it might be,” he said.

“We’ve found out that what they’re saying is at close of business on Thursday the first of April, ‘we’re going to change all the locks whether you like it or not, you can’t get back in after that’.”

A spokesman for the receiver, Ferrier Hodgeson, says the tenants have not been evicted and no time frame has been given for them to move out.

Sheep deaths blamed on witch grass

Farmers are being urged to look out for a poisonous weed blamed for killing about 100 sheep near Horsham.

Lower Norton grazier Kevin Wilkie says a quarter of the weaner lambs in his paddock died suddenly.

Animal health officer Kate Ferrier investigated the deaths and says it is an unusual case.

Ms Ferrier says there is a toxin in the weed, commonly called witch grass, that is relatively unknown.

She says the symptoms of poisoning are quite clear.

“It looks like extreme sunburn, the [animal's] face becomes quite swollen,” she said.

“You might see the ears are quite swollen and droopy, the eyes swollen, so it’s quite distinctive what happens.”

Kerry Katona to get her drug-ravaged nose ‘rebuilt’

London, Aug 26 (ANI): Drug-scandal hit Kerry Katona may soon have to undergo reconstructive surgery for her drug- ridden nose, it has emerged.

Coke sprees have left a hole in the former Atomic Kitten’s septum, the dividing wall between the two nostrils.

The Daily Star quoted a pal as saying: “Kerry is determined not to dabble ever again.

“She knows how close she has come to losing everything and isn’t going to take any more chances.

“She reckons if she pays for an op to rebuild her nose it will act as an incentive never to be tempted again.”

Kerry’s stepsister Pat Ferrier said the reality TV star was so addicted to cocaine that she had snorted up of 250 pounds of the drug in a day.

Pat said she had once seen Katona pull out a cartilage lump from her nose with a pair of tweezers.

She said: “It looked like when you get the fat off bacon.

“She told me rotting black stuff builds up inside and she has to dig it out every few weeks. But it didn’t stop her taking drugs.”

“Her nose is caving in. She needs to get help or she’ll die,” she added. (ANI)

Drug scandal hit Kerry Katona ‘admits she’ll die young’

London, Aug 23 (ANI): Kerry Katona’s stepsister and closest confidante Pat Ferrier says that the reality TV star has admitted that she’ll die young.

Ferrier also says that Katona’s got a hole in her nose because of drugs.

“Kerry’s life is out of control now. She is a drug addict. Her nose is caving in – I’ve seen it with my own eyes. She needs to get help or she’ll die,” the News of the World quoted Ferrier as saying.

“If she doesn’t change her ways and keeps on going like this she’ll be dead before she’s 30. She’ll kill herself. And I’ve told her that. Shockingly, Kerry agreed with me. She just turned around and said, ‘I’m going to tell you something Pat. My mum will outlive me. I’ll die young,’ ” she added.

Katona’s life is in shambles ever since her coke snorting tape went public.

She lost out on her major source of income, a lucrative 250,000 pounds deal from frozen food giant Iceland.

To add to her problems is a police probe and the fear of going bankrupt.

And now she’s afraid she may lose the custody of her daughters to ex hubby Brian McFadden. (ANI)

Second salvage vehicle at crash site

A second salvage vessel has been deployed to the scene of a helicopter crash in the North Sea as efforts to locate its flight recorder continued. Skip related content
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Air accident inspectors are carrying out investigations off the Aberdeenshire coast where the Super Puma helicopter came down, killing its 14 passengers and two crew.

The accident happened on Wednesday afternoon as the aircraft returned from a BP oil platform. The eight bodies which have so far been recovered were shipped to Aberdeen on Thursday.

A search for the eight remaining bodies has been stood down, after police said there was no hope of finding any survivors.

The vessel Vigilant was chartered by air accident investigators and has been at the crash site since Friday morning.

It is carrying specialist sonar equipment which is being used to locate the wreckage and remove it from the seabed.

The second vessel was also commissioned as part of the salvage operation.

A spokesman from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said: “This is a complicated investigation which is drawing on expertise from different sectors and several agencies will continue working together.

“The investigation continues with work under way to salvage the wreckage and combined Cockpit Voice and Flight Data Recorder.”

Grampian Police have confirmed the identities of four of the eight men whose bodies were recovered.

They were KCA Deutag employees Raymond Doyle, 57, of Cumbernauld and Nairn Ferrier, 40, of Dundee.

Also identified were Stuart Wood, 27, of Aberdeen, who worked for Expro North Sea Ltd, and Warren Mitchell, 38, of Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire.

The other men who died in the crash were KCA Deutag employees James Edwards, 33, of Liverpool; Nolan Goble, 34, of Norwich; Gareth Hughes, 53, of Angus and David Rae, 63, of Dumfries; Leslie Taylor, 41, of Kintore, Aberdeenshire; Mihails Zuravskis, 39, of Latvia; and Brian Barkley, 30, and Vernon Elrick, 41, both of Aberdeen.

James Costello, 25, of Aberdeen, who worked for contractor PSN and Sparrow Offshore Services employee Alex Dallas, 62, of Aberdeen, also died.

The pilots were named as captain Paul Burnham, 31, of Methlick, Aberdeenshire; and co-pilot Richard Menzies, 24, of Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire. Both were employed by Bond Offshore.

Grampian Police said its work to identify the four other recovered bodies remains “of the highest priority”.