Women's voices should not be ignored in the future if they raise concerns over the condition and treatment of their babies in maternity units, an MP said.

Image source, PA Media

A review into the scandal-hit at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS (SaTH) trust found mothers were blamed for their babies' deaths and records "often focused on blaming the mothers".

Lucy Allan, the Conservative MP for Telford, said the health service needs to listen to female patients and not ignore them.

"If they say there is something wrong, do not trivialise what they are saying, listen to them," she said.

"I think that was the big mistake here and it may well be this is something which is systemic across the culture of the NHS and maternity care."

Seven "immediate and essential" actions have been made for all maternity services across England.

The chief executive of SaTH said it was committed "to implementing all of the report's actions".

Millions of pounds have been given to arts and heritage groups in the West Midlands including a £19.4m loan for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

The money is the latest round of cash from the Culture Recovery Fund, set up to help them through the coronavirus pandemic.

The RSC, which said in October 158 jobs were at risk, has not been able to stage full productions since the pandemic began.

The government loan is due to be paid back by 2040 and the RSC said some of it would be used to stage Tales for Winter online.

Other groups getting funding this time include £1.9m for Warwick Arts Centre, £210,380 for The Courtyard Trust, Herefordshire, £150,520 for the Midlands Art Centre Birmingham and £130,000 for Ludlow Assembly Rooms., external

Express and Star

Headlines from the Express & Star:

• Wolverhampton father and son in car fraud told to pay £400,000, external
• Demolition works continue at Rugeley Power Station site, external
• Work starts on homes in Heath Town as part of wider revamp project, external

BBC Midlands Today

The funeral will take place in Worcester today of Cecil Duckworth, a businessman and philanthropist.

Image source, PA Media

The former owner of Worcester Warriors, who worked to transform the club into a Premiership side, died in November at the age of 83.

Before then he had started Worcester Engineering Co Ltd and helped invent the combi-boiler before selling it to Bosch in 1992.

His funeral procession will make a tour of the city, including Acorns Children's Hospice, the New Road cricket ground and Sixways Stadium, before a private family funeral.

BBC Sport

Wolves striker Raul Jimenez visited the club's training ground this week for the first time since undergoing surgery on a fractured skull.

Image source, Getty Images

The Mexico international, 29, suffered the injury in a clash of heads with Arsenal defender David Luiz at Emirates Stadium on 29 November.

Wolves players wore T-shirts with messages of support for Jimenez prior to Sunday's match against Liverpool.

Jimenez greeted his manager and team-mates at Compton Park on Wednesday following his release from hospital as they prepare to face Aston Villa at Molineux on Saturday.

Wolves supporters raised £7,500 in two hours for a giant flag for the Mexican in the Steve Bull Stand at Molineux, while thousands of messages of support for the player have been received by the club.

BBC Weather

Cloudy with one or two showers around mixed with the odd bright or sunny spell. Feeling quite mild with a high of 10C/50F.

Staying mainly cloudy tonight with a few more showers before turning misty in places with some patches of hill fog around. Low: 6C/43F.

You can stay up-to-date on the latest forecast for your area by going to the BBC Weather website.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Welcome to the start of our live service for Friday.

We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates for the West Midlands.

You can let us know about stories in your area via email, Twitter, external and Facebook, external.

Liam Byrne MP says vaccinations could begin in Birmingham at the weekend, if doses arrive on Friday.

Allen Cook
BBC News

We'll be back with the latest news, sport, travel and more for the West Midlands from 08:00 on Friday.

Owners of weapons such as knives, knuckle-dusters and rifles are being offered cash to hand them in to police.

The Offensive Weapons Act comes into force next year.

Image source, PA Media

West Midlands Police said a weapons surrender began on Thursday and would run for three months.

It said the government had added 22 knives and a number of previously legally owned firearms and associated items to the list of banned weapons.

The list, externalincludes optical rifle scopes, magazines and electronic sights.

Compensation for lawful owners ranges from £2 to £5,105 for each item.

A woman has died in a house fire.

Firefighters were called to Mallorie Road, Stoke-on-Trent, at 11:20 on Thursday and they rescued several dogs from the home.

The fire service said the woman, aged in her 70s, died at the scene.

It is not believed to have been started deliberately and Staffordshire Police said officers were not treating the death as suspicious at the moment.

BBC Weather Watchers

Our local BBC Weather Watchers have been keeping an eye on our equine friends in the cold weather, by the look of some of the photos we've had back.

These three are from users Skye in Clee Hill, Shropshire, Elle Niño in Sutton Coldfield and SteveC in Lighthorne, Warwickshire:

Image source, Skye

Image source, Elle Niño

Image source, SteveC

Worcester News

The Worcester News is covering these stories today:

• Hero carer describes Covid crisis at Worcester care home, external
• Two homeless men charged after drugs bust, external
• Showground chosen as Worcestershire's Covid vaccine centre, external

Footage shared widely online shows a man hitting a car windscreen with a large knife.

A video shows the man hitting a car windscreen with a large knife.

BBC Midlands Today

The Staffordshire oatcake is beloved in its home county and now it has been made into tea.

The unique delicacy is made from a recipe typically including oatmeal and yeast and turns out looking rather like a dirty flannel - and people in the Potteries love them.

Stoke-on-Trent-based firm Moorlands Pottery has branched out to make the tea and director Jon Plant said it was natural to blend in the oatcake.

"Wanted it to have that magic ingredient, the whole thing about Stoke, the DNA of Stoke, the oatcake, what is better to use than that? So that is where we started and eventually we arrived at the oatcake tea," he said.

BBC Midlands Today

A £227m project to extend part of the West Midlands tram network started on Thursday.

The Midland Metro connects Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the latest extension will take it through Birmingham's Eastside district and nearby Digbeth.

The project includes wider improvement to the Digbeth street area and this branch is due to be up and running by 2025.

BBC Radio WM

People in Birmingham may start to get the new Covid-19 Pfizer vaccination from Saturday but it could take until Monday, an MP has said.

Image source, Reuters

Liam Byrne, who represents Hodge Hill for Labour, said he understood delivery had been promised by tomorrow night so jabs can start Saturday.

But he added if that delivery didn’t materialise it was likely they wouldn’t start until Monday at the earliest.

Both he and the city council's Labour leader, Ian Ward, have written to the government demanding to know when it will be available in Birmingham.

University Hospitals Birmingham did not appear on the NHS list for the first vaccinations which began on Tuesday including in other parts of the West Midlands.

The hospital trust, the biggest in England, has had more Covid-related deaths than any other.

Mr Byrne said they needed to get started: "The sooner the city is vaccinated the sooner we know we can escape from the lockdown."

The government has been approached for a response.

The 17-year-olds - two boys and a girl - are accused of murdering Sohail Ali.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The number of patients in England waiting over a year for routine hospital care is now 100 times higher than before the pandemic, figures show.

Nearly 163,000 out of the 4.4 million on the waiting list at the end of October had waited over 12 months for operations such as hip replacements.

Image source, Getty Images

There were just 1,600 year-long waiters in February, NHS England data shows.

The numbers of urgent cancer checks and patients starting cancer treatment, however, have returned to their normal levels.

Read more