The emergency department at the County Hospital in Hereford has been given an overall rating of "good" following an inspection - despite the added pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Care Quality Commission visited the hospital in December, after concerns were raised about the safety and quality of the A&E service.

Inspectors found good care was being provided, but both waiting and discharge times were out of line with national standards.

The level of care had remained consistent despite the pandemic, and maintained the department's rating of "good", however, the trust's overall rating of "requires improvement" remains.

Image source, Google

Jane Ives, Wye Valley Trust managing director, said: "We know what we have to do and will continue to build on the plans and processes we have in place.

"We have an extensive refurbishment of the emergency department taking place and a new Same Day Emergency Care facility is due to open its doors within days and a new paediatric assessment unit within the next few weeks."

BBC Hereford and Worcester

Worcestershire's Moeen Ali has said it "would be an amazing achievement for the country" if crowds were able to return to cricket matches this summer.

He is due to lead Birmingham Phoenix out at Edgbaston in their first group game in the Hundred competition on 23 July and by then the government hopes to allow large crowds again.

Image source, Getty Images

The new competition was supposed to launch last summer, but it was delayed because of the pandemic and Moeen said "all the teams are absolutely buzzing" right now.

Jonathan Gullis was barred from speaking in the House of Commons until he had put on a jacket.

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the stories on the Shropshire Star website:

• High vaccine take-up in county as nearly all over 70s have had first coronavirus jab, new figures show, external
• MP asks parliamentary watchdog to investigate Future Fit delays, external
• Nightclubs 'must be backed' by government as venues look forward to June return, external

HS2 will not be a "rich man's business-class railway", according to the boss of the firm developing the project.

Mark Thurston, chief executive of HS2 Ltd, said the ticketing structure would ensure trains can be used by "all working people".

The level of HS2 fares and whether trains will have first-class compartments has not been decided.

Opponents of the railway have claimed tickets will be significantly more expensive than for conventional trains to help pay for the railway.

The government-commissioned Oakervee Review warned in 2018 HS2's final bill could reach £106bn at 2019 prices.

During a virtual appearance at the National Rail Recovery Conference, Mr Thurston insisted it "needs to be an affordable railway" so it becomes "an integral part of the rail network".

Aerial footage has shown the London to Birmingham leg of the HS2 high-speed rail network and the state of its construction.

The move would see the Coventry store become one of the biggest venues of its kind in the world.

BBC Radio WM

BBC Radio Wolverhampton helped arrange a surprise for arguably the biggest Wolves fan in America.

Logan Navarro is a nine-year-old YouTuber from Los Angeles whose commentary of Joao Moutinho's goal against Arsenal has been viewed 11,000 times on social media.

He now has hundreds of subscribers to his channel, which is all about his love of Nuno’s team.

This morning he heard from Ruben Neves who recorded a message for him.

Neves said he enjoyed watching his YouTube channel and appreciated him waking up very early in the US to watch Wolves play.

Logan was a little lost for words afterwards and said he was very grateful for the surprise.

BBC News

Covid-testing in schools comes with a "myriad of concerns", the chief executive of the Marches Academy Trust in Shropshire has said.

Sarah Finch, who has teenage children herself, said: "There's the vulnerable children, the children in challenging circumstances, whether they'll be given the encouragement to the tests, the space to do the tests.

"Things are very fraught at certain times in some families."

Pupils at the Sir John Talbot School told BBC news they thought children would get used to it when everyone was doing it.

Brooke (pictured below) said: "I think some people will complain, but they're going to do it by the end anyway."

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Plans for a hydro-electric turbine in Shrewsbury which were shelved in 2017 could be resurrected.

The original plans, put forward by a community group, were abandoned when changes to energy tariffs made it financially unviable.

The town council has now committed about £30,000 to see if the scheme could be revived.

Image source, Google

Council leader Labour's Alan Mosley said “The climate emergency makes it vital that we move to much more green energy and the hydro scheme at the weir will make a good local contribution to our objectives."

And he said it would generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of about 400 homes every year.

The Albany Theatre, in Coventry, has been given £2.9m to pay for redevelopment work.

The money from the city council was approved in a meeting on Tuesday night, with some of the money coming from the City of Culture fund.

Image source, Albany Theatre

Work can now begin to improve the Studio Theatre, create three new studios, a new café and improved audience and community facilities.

Police have found 138 cannabis plants at a house in Stoke-on-Trent.

No arrests have been made since the discovery in Burnley Street on Tuesday.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

Staffordshire Police said it had raided the property after being contacted about suspicious activity there.

A boundary review suggests merging the rowdy local authority with neighbouring Wilmslow.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Some of the Stoke-on-Trent Live headline today include:

• Pregnant mum with toddler grabbed by two men in 'attempted mugging' near Tunstall Matalan, external

• Landlord drills through wall to discover cannabis factory in house next door, external
• North Staffordshire sees lowest weekly death toll this year as 39 Covid patients die, external

A new centre for the West Midlands' creative industries could be opened as soon as next year.

The hub, which has been made possible due to £3m from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, will be based in the Digbeth area of Birmingham.

The project hopes to attract some big media names to the city while keeping the region's creative talent here.

Neil Duncanson, from North One, a Birmingham-based production company, says the region has so much to offer.

"I've watched as one after another production company has disappeared. Some go out of business completely, some have moved to London [and] some have moved elsewhere but they're starting to drift away.

"It was clear to me that if we didn't do something quite seminal immediately, that there would not be an industry left."

BBC Radio WM

Nine-year-old Logan Navarro, from Los Angeles, started supporting Wolves four years ago after finding them on the Fifa video games.

He now has a YouTube channel where he reviews the games and has gained hundreds of subscribers from the Black Country.

To thank Logan for his passionate support, BBC Radio Wolverhampton got in contact with the club to arrange a special surprise which you can hear on the Breakfast show today.

BBC Weather

Today we are forecast cloudy skies and some light showers, with temperatures up to 15C (59F).

There will also be a light breeze.

Image source, Videoman

Welcome to our live service for Wednesday.

We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.

We love to hear from you, so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email, Twitter, external and Facebook., external

Teemu Pukki nets twice as Norwich go 10 points clear at the top of the Championship with a 10th away win of the season at Birmingham.

His family say they are surprised the vulnerable stem cell transplant recipient received open-ward care.

Warwickshire chief executive Stuart Cain asks whether County Championship fixtures in April could be staged as crowd pilot games.