A special NHS fund for cancer medicines in England needs to be managed more effectively, says a committee of MPs.

In its report on the Cancer Drugs Fund, the Public Accounts Committee said it was unacceptable that the benefit to patients was still not clear.
The fund was set up in 2010 to improve access to cancer drugs that would not be routinely available on the NHS.
The fund, which is expected to have cost £1.27bn by April 2017, has helped more than 80,000 cancer patients.
Before any drugs can be given to patients on the NHS, they have to be recommended by the health watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which looks at how well they work and whether they are cost-effective.
But if drugs are not recommended or have yet to be appraised by NICE, the Cancer Drugs Fund can step in and choose to fund cancer treatment.
The fund was initially managed by strategic health authorities. But since April 2013, it has been managed by NHS England.
The MPs' committee says there is no evidence the fund is benefiting patients, extending lives or a good use of taxpayers' money.
Money has had to be diverted from primary care to cover two years of overspends.
The £480m budget for the two years from 2013 to 2015 was overspent by £167m.
Its total budget, of £1.27bn, takes the fund to April, when the system will be overhauled.
The MPs recommend more thorough information is collected about how patients are benefiting from the drugs.
And they say tough decisions will need to be made about spending.
The fund has already had to drastically reduce the number of treatments it pays for, and the MPs' report questions whether it has done enough to fund medicines for rarer cancers.
A spokesman for NHS England said: "While we welcome the committee's support for a redesigned cancer drugs fund, we hope their explicit call for cuts to cancer drugs prices charged to the fund will be borne in mind as complex decisions on its future are taken in the next few months."


The 10 people, including five children, who died in a fire at a travellers' site in the Republic of Ireland on Saturday have been named locally.

The victims were Willie Lynch and Tara Gilbert, their daughters Kelsey and Jodie, Thomas and Sylvia Connors and their children Jim, Christy and six-month-old Mary.
Jimmy Lynch, 39, a brother of Willie, also died in the blaze.
Two adults and a child who were injured remain in hospital.
Post-mortem examinations of the remains of those who died have been carried out but it is expected to be a number of days before they are officially identified using DNA and dental records.
It is understood the fire broke out at a pre-fabricated building at the site and quickly spread to a nearby unit.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny visited the site on Sunday to offer his sympathy to the families of those who died.
He said flags on government and public buildings would fly at half-mast on the days the victims' funerals take place.
Police are investigating the cause of the blaze but it is not being treated as suspicious.
Prayers were said at Masses on Sunday for the victims and their relatives and members of the public have been leaving flowers and messages of sympathy at the entrance to the site.
A minute's silence was held before the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2016 qualifying match against Poland in Warsaw as a mark of respect.
Geraldine Dunn, from the Southside Traveller Action Group support group said the victims' families were in "an enormous amount of shock".
"I don't think Ireland has slept last night thinking about the tragedy, so I really don't know how to sum it up in one word, the effect of what has happened," she said.
"I have to say all our communities have been outstanding with the amount of support that they have given.
"The whole country has come together to support in any kind of a way that they can."
The site remains sealed off while investigations continue into how the fire started.


UK car production has hit a 14-year high for August, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has said.

According to the trade body, 109,004 vehicles rolled off UK production lines last month, up 9.1% on the figure for August last year.
Demand rose at home and overseas following an increase in investment in UK car plants, the SMMT  said.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said it was "good news for car makers and welcome news for the UK economy".
"[The UK] depends on this thriving sector for an increasing share of UK exports," he said.
A number of surveys and data have suggested the UK's decision to leave the EU has had little impact on manufacturing so far, despite previous fears to the contrary.
However, a spokesperson for the SMMT said it was "too early to tell" whether Brexit was affecting the car industry.
The SMMT's latest figures showed demand from British consumers climbed 6.2% while export volumes were up 10.2%.
In total 1.1 million vehicles have made in Britain so far this year, a 12% increase on last year.
Mr Hawes said: "British car producers are exporting a diverse range of high quality, attractive new models that are in demand across the world.
"[This is] thanks to multi-billion pound investments made in UK plants over the past few years."
He said that future success for the industry depended on "continued investment in plant and products".
"That in turn depends on the UK maintaining internationally competitive business and trading conditions."


The Met Office has issued a warning that snow and ice could cause difficult driving conditions and disruption in Northern Ireland.

The warning is the least severe of those the Met Office issues, and is in place between 15:00 GMT on Thursday and 12:00 on Friday.
Sleet and snow showers are expected to become heavy and frequent.
They are due to continue overnight and into Friday across Northern Ireland.
For the latest weather forecast for Northern Ireland, click here.
The Met Office said "several centimetres of snow" could "settle in a fairly short period" as a result of the showers.
"Icy stretches are also likely to form on untreated surfaces," it added.


Police are to begin a month-long operation against anti-social behaviour by some drivers in Thurso.

Acting Insp Marlene MacDonald said residents of the town had complained of reckless driving, including racing, noisy exhausts and horns being blared.
Officers will monitor for speeding and use a decibel meter to check car exhausts do not breach noise levels.
Police said Operation Route would involve officers going out on patrol and setting up inspection check points.
Acting Insp MacDonald said: "It is recognised that the vast majority of road users in Thurso are considerate and respectful of others.
"However, there are a small minority who repeatedly and continually drive in an anti-social manner."
She added: "This culture of constant cruising around the Thurso town centre, whilst creating excessive noise through loud exhausts or the unnecessary revving of engines and general poor driver behaviour, will no longer be tolerated."


The British may have introduced tea to India 150 years ago, but the country has really made the drink its own.

14 July 2016 Last updated at 17:46 BST
Cardamom, spices and ginger all go into the pot, to make the famous "masala chai".  Is this the best cup of tea in the world?
Filmed and edited by Sanjay Ganguly


An agreement has been reached between land owners and a tenant farmer facing eviction after more than 20 years.

Andrew Stoddart's tenancy at Colstoun Mains farm, near Haddington in East Lothian, was due to end on 28 November.
But compensation for his eviction has been agreed with the Colstoun Trust and Mr Stoddart will be allowed to stay on until January 2016.
The agreement has been welcomed by Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead, who called it a "complex case".
A statement issued on behalf of both Mr Stoddart and the Colstoun Trust said: "Mediation has taken place between Andrew Stoddart and the Trustees.
"Representatives of the Scottish government were in attendance but have not accepted liability for claims already intimated to them by either Mr Stoddart or the Trustees and did not mediate on these aspects.
"Mr Stoddart and the Trustees have agreed the terms for payment of Mr Stoddart's waygoing claim. They have agreed that Mr Stoddart may continue to have the use of the house, grazing land and farm buildings at Colstoun Mains Farm, Haddington, until January 2016."
The dispute over the farm in East Lothian has become the focus of a campaign to improve the rights of tenant farmers.
Earlier this month, Mr Stoddart joined land rights campaigners in a protest at the Scottish parliament.
Welcoming agreement in this case on behalf of the government, Mr Lochhead said: "There is no doubt that this has been an incredibly complex case with many different factors involved ranging from flawed legislation to a breakdown in relationship between landlord and tenant over many years.
"We understand that more than 300 tenant farmers were originally affected by the flawed 2003 Agricultural Holdings legislation introduced by the previous administration.
"Agreement between landlord and tenant has been reached in almost all of the cases although seven remain unresolved. I hope that the mediation process that we are facilitating will also now help in these cases."
The body representing landowners has also said it is pleased that the dispute at Colstoun Mains is over.
David Johnstone, the chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, said: "We are pleased that agreement has been reached between the Trust and Mr Stoddart and we are aware there was a willingness on the part of the landlord to deal with the issues involved.
"It is a great pity that this case was surrounded by so much ill-informed rhetoric.
"It was very regrettable that Mr Stoddart was, as were other tenants in Scotland, given false hope by defective legislation brought forward by the then-Scottish Executive many years ago."


Google has rethought its plans for a modular smartphone and now plans to release a less customisable model than it had first proposed.

The revised Project Ara handset no longer allows its main display or processors to be swapped out.
Google said the new design meant it could offer more space to other parts that added unusual functions.
One expert said the move increased the initiative's chance of success.
"A fully modular smartphone would have gone against every trend in the industry to integrate components tightly together and make smaller, faster devices as a result," said Ian Fogg, from the consultancy IHS Technology.
"By putting the front display, the processors and some of the core functionality into the frame's board, rather than on removable modules, it has significantly de-risked the project.
"That may not offer as much flexibility to users as the original plan, but it makes it easier for Google to bring Project Ara to market quickly."
Google originally revealed it was working on a customisable phone in October 2013, after its Motorola division - which it later sold - teamed up with the creator of the Phonebloks concept.
Just over a year later, Google announced it would shortly begin a trial in Puerto Rico, where it intended to offer consumers a frame and a range of 20 to 30 clip-on modules.
A promotional video published at the time suggested one of the benefits would be that owners could easily swap out a cracked screen and replace it with a new part.
But in August 2015, the pilot was cancelled and there was a change in leadership.
Ara's lead engineer Rafa Camargo described the new design as putting "modularity where it counts".
"We've integrated the phone technology in the frame. That frees up space for modules that will create and integrate new functionality that you cannot get on your smartphone today," he told developers at Google's IO conference in California.
He added that the revision meant the phone's frame could also become thinner and modules could be swapped without having to reboot the device.
The project's head of creative, Blaise Bertrand, said that one potential module would be a glucometer for people with diabetes, which he said was something mass-market handsets were unlikely to incorporate as standard.
He added that an advantage over current kit was that the phone could track a user's blood-sugar level alongside their activity levels rather than in isolation.
Other examples included:
Mr Bertrand said his team was already working with Samsung, iHealth, Toshiba, Panasonic and Harman among others, to make the parts.
The current prototype can incorporate up to six modules, although Mr Camargo said that future frames could be larger or smaller.
Each slot should work for at least "10,000 connect cycles" he added, and the device could be made to eject one of the parts by giving it a voice command.
Google is now promising to release a developers' edition of the phone and "a few" modules before the end of the year, and aims to sell a version to the public in 2017.
It also intended to extend the concept to other types of computers, Mr Camargo added.
LG recently launched a modular phone of its own, to mixed reviews.
While many critics praised the idea behind the LG G5, they highlighted that only two add-on parts - a high-definition audio processor and a camera grip - currently took advantage of the facility.
"Google needs to make it very easy for developers to make the modules and easy for them to distribute and sell them," said Mr Fogg.
"How they are brought to market is going to be very important."


Dundee boss Paul Hartley has no fresh injury worries ahead of the Premiership encounter with Partick Thistle.

Midfielder Mark O'Hara has overcome the ankle knock he sustained against Motherwell on Saturday while defender James McPake remains out.
Partick Thistle have no new injury concerns for the trip to Dens Park.
Long-term absentees Sean Welsh, Ryan Scully, Stuart Bannigan and Gary Fraser remain out.
Sixth place Dundee are a point ahead of Partick Thistle in the Premiership table.
Dundee manager Paul Hartley: "I have always been a manager that puts teams out that want to win football games, that are really attack-minded and play some excellent football and been on the front foot.
"I was a little bit disappointed with the goal we lost [in Saturday's 5-1 win over Motherwell]. We told the players we weren't happy with some things.
"We had a little go at the players to make sure that they kept a level of concentration. I don't think you can ever be happy but the players knew at half-time that they had to manage the game in the second half."
Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald: "We have been fighting for a top-six spot and a relegation battle at the same time. I don't think it will change any time soon.
"Our incentive is to get in the top six and pull away from the teams below us. I have watched Dundee's last couple of games and they are flying high. It will be a real tough affair.
"We still know we are not too far from the bottom but we know a massive three points will take us further away."


It's a simple question - whose job is it to make sure there are enough teachers in the classroom?

Your child's headteacher, along with the governing body, is at the sharp end of filling empty jobs.
So no wonder that at many schools heads tell me it's near the top of their worry list.
Despairing of the impact of traditional job ads, they are taking to social media and eyeing up talent they might poach from other schools.
Some are trying to grow their own, by recruiting likely candidates into teaching assistant posts and then coaxing them to train.
Others are sidling up to promising departing sixth formers to ask if they might want to come back to do some volunteering at the school while weighing up career options at university.
But ultimately the MPs on the influential Public Accounts Committee are in no doubt the buck stops with the government.
And yet their report, just published, describes a remarkable lack of reliable data to really tell officials what is going on.
Part of the problem has been the gulf between national statistics showing a very low vacancy level of 0.3% and what is happening on the ground in some parts of England.
When term starts there has to be someone in front of the class even if it is a temporary, or agency teacher.
So the vacancy statistic tells us nothing about who is teaching, how good they are or whether they're just a short-term solution.
It took some time for the government to stop pointing to this statistic, and admit that schools in some areas were experiencing something rather different.
There are more ways than ever before to train as a teacher in England, with an increasing shift to more being based in schools rather than universities.
They vary from the extremely niche, such as Troops to Teachers, to the main Schools Direct programme where a school can act as a training hub for its area.
It can be confusing to navigate if you're thinking of becoming a teacher and, for the last four years, not enough people have been recruited to meet the numbers needed.
The government is now planning to track trainees into the workforce, but for the moment there is little solid evidence of how the different training routes are working.
The same is true of the bursaries which are aimed at enticing graduates in shortage subjects into a teaching career.
As science graduates can go into well paid jobs, it's not unreasonable to think financial incentives might make a difference.
After all, a Â£30,000 tax-free bursary while you train is quite a good offer.
What the MPs are asking for is better evidence the public money being spent is delivering a long-term payback.
It's not that the government is doing nothing, rather that it's doing many things without, the MPs suggest, being able to prove what works best.
The government has promised to make sure there are enough talented teachers recruited, wherever they're needed.
With pupil numbers continuing to rise that's a big promise.


At least 26 people remain missing after a landslide in China's northwest Shaanxi province, say local authorities.

About 1 million cubic metres of mud buried dormitories and homes owned by the Shaanxi Wuzhou Mining Company in Shanyang county early on Wednesday.
Officials said 14 people had been rescued. The operations had been greatly hampered by heavy rain.
China has seen severe weather during the current monsoon season.
The powerful Typhoon Soudelor hit southern China over the weekend bringing strong winds and rain.
Shanyang officials said the authorities were alerted to the landslide at 01:47 local time (17:47 GMT on Tuesday).
Fifteen dormitories and three residential buildings were buried, trapping at least 40 people initially.
The local government said on its website that people in the area surrounding the landslide had been evacuated, and that large machinery and rescue personnel had been brought in.
State broadcaster CCTV said dozens of soldiers, some with sniffer dogs, were at the scene looking for signs of life.


The long decline in Anglican churchgoing is levelling off, the Church of England has said.

A spokesman said average weekly attendances overall fell by 0.3%, to about 1.1 million in 2011, representing a "stabilising" of attendance figures.
The figures also suggested a continuing large presence of "nominal" Anglicans - those who believe in God but only go to church occasionally.
Christmas churchgoing rose by 14% and the number of baptisms also rose.
The annual Church of England statistics also showed an increase in cathedral attendances.
The diocese where the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England, presides saw the biggest drop in average weekly and Sunday worship figures.
Canterbury had a 9.5% drop in average weekly church service attendance between 2010 and 2011, closely followed by Portsmouth with an 8.2% drop and Durham with an 8% decline.
The Canterbury diocese also saw a fall of 8.3% for average Sunday attendance, followed by Portsmouth with a 7.8% fall and Durham with a 7.1% fall over the same period.
The previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Williams of Oystermouth, left his post at the end of last year to become Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. His successor, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, was enthroned in March.
The top three dioceses for growth in average weekly attendance during the same period were Southwell and Nottingham with a 10.7% increase, Norwich - identified in the 2011 Census as the least religious local authority in England and Wales - with attendence up 9.1% and Ripon and Leeds with a 7.4% rise.
The top dioceses to register a rise in average Sunday attendance were Southwell and Nottingham, up by 8.8%, Lincoln, up by 4.8% and Blackburn, up by 4.4%.
The figures showed a 14.5% increase in Christmas attendance between 2010 and 2011, reaching a total of more than 2.6 million.
A spokesman for the Church of England said the rise was partly attributable to poor weather on Christmas Day in 2010.
But he added that figures from last year suggested another increase in Christmas attendance, indicating that churchgoing at Christmas was growing in popularity.
The number of christenings increased by 4.3% and was accompanied by a rise of just over 5% in adult baptisms, the figures showed.
Thanksgivings for the birth of a child also rose by 11.9%.
Weddings saw a slight decrease of 3.6% in 2011, to 51,880, whilst the number of wedding blessings  - services of prayer and thanksgiving following a civil ceremony - was up by 4.5%.
Church of England clergy and lay ministers conducted 162,526 funerals in 2011, a fall of 2.8% on the previous year.
The Rt Rev Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich, said: "These figures are a welcome reminder of the work and service undertaken by the Church of England annually - 1,000 couples married, 2,600 baptisms celebrated and over 3,000 funerals conducted every week of the year.
"The attendance figures are heartening, especially the very strong growth in Christmas Day attendance.
"The encouraging news of further growth to come even on these high figures is very welcome and points to a growing trend.
"Also welcome is the stabilising of the numbers of those who attend church services on a weekly basis.
"With almost half of our dioceses showing growth, there is a quiet confidence underlying these figures."


A 17-year-old boy remains in police custody following the death of a Portadown schoolgirl.

A 19-year-old man also arrested on Monday has been released on bail, pending further enquiries.
Caitlin White, 15, died in Craigavon Hospital after being found unconscious in woodland near Portadown's Corcrain estate on Saturday evening.
The exact cause of her death is not yet known.
Police have said a possible link to drugs is one line of inquiry into the Craigavon Senior High School pupil's death.


A fire hydrant showered shoppers with water when it burst, creating a 15m high fountain in a city centre.

Media playback is unsupported on your device
25 March 2015 Last updated at 12:25 GMT
It broke in Nottingham's Old Market Square, spraying a jet more than twice the height of a double-decker bus into the air.
The water also fell on buses and trams on Monday.
It was later repaired.


An asylum seeker who was being held at the Australian-run detention centre on Manus Island has been found dead.

Police say the man's body was found near the East Lorengau refugee transit centre on Monday morning.
Australia's Immigration and Border Protection department said Papua New Guinean (PNG) authorities are investigating the death.
PNG police said the man, who is from Iran, took his own life, though reports say other residents contested that.
The man's name has not been released.
Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat are detained at the Manus Island centre and on the nation of Nauru as part of the government's long-standing policy.
Australia agreed to close the Manus Island centre last year after a PNG court ruled that detaining asylum seekers and refugees there was unconstitutional.
Rights groups say conditions in the PNG and Nauru camps are inadequate with poor hygiene, cramped conditions, unrelenting heat and a lack of facilities.
The controversial centre is due to close by 31 October.


Tenants' rights to buy their own council homes would be scrapped under a proposed new law by the Welsh Government.

Cardiff council became the latest authority to suspend its right-to-buy for five years on Thursday, in a bid to tackle the city's housing need.
Government ministers will propose a new law amounting to a Wales-wide ban on the scheme in the assembly next month.
Welsh Labour previously said it wanted to protect social housing stock.
Currently, most social housing tenants in Wales have the right-to-buy their home after five years and receive a discount of Â£8,000 on the value.
Last year, 359 properties in Wales were bought under the scheme out of a total of more than 200,000 properties in the social housing sector.
On Thursday, Cardiff council's cabinet approved plans to suspended the scheme, a flagship policy of Margaret Thatcher, for five years.
Cardiff's decision will need to be formally rubber-stamped by the Welsh Government before it can be implemented.
Anglesey, Carmarthenshire and Swansea have already stopped the policy, while Flintshire and Denbighshire have submitted their plans to ministers.


A UK technique for forecasting the extent of summer sea ice in the Arctic proved its worth this week.

Reading researchers announced in June that the floes would cover 5.4 million sq km come the end of the melt season - give or take half a million.
US agencies called the actual number on Monday as 5.02 million sq km.
The British team's modelled forecast hangs on the amount of water ponding on top of the ice as it warms in the spring.
These ponds have been shown to promote melting.
Projecting the behaviour of seasonal ice in the Arctic has been a difficult problem.
Achieving a good level of skill - even just a few months ahead - would be useful to many sectors.
Shipping, tourism and oil industries - all are looking to exploit the opportunities that will emerge in an Arctic that is expected to become more open in a warming climate.
It is two years running now that Reading's meltpond forecasts have landed virtually on the button.
For September 2013, the group's spring projection was for a mean ice extent of 5.55 million sq km. The eventual number again fell within the uncertainty bounds, at 5.35 million sq km.
But unlike the 2013 forecast, this year's projection was made publicly in advance.  The polar modelling community was watching.
The projection of 5.4 million sq km (4.9-5.9 million sq km) was technically for the "September average" extent. This number will be known in a few days, but is likely to be more than 5.02 and therefore even closer to the Reading forecast.
"The fact that we have this repeated success lends some confidence," Prof Daniel Feltham from the NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at Reading told BBC News.
"We have error bars, and we can describe skill as being between one and zero, where one is perfect and zero is terrible. We're about 0.4 or 0.5.
"That may not sound very good, but it's still a lot better than anything else that's out there," he explained.
As the sun rises in the Arctic in the spring, the sea ice starts to melt and water will begin to pond on top of the floes. This will change the pack's reflectiveness, or albedo.
The ponds are darker than the bare ice and therefore absorb more of the Sun's energy, driving further melting.
Prof Feltham's team has developed a model to forecast the evolution of melt ponds in the Arctic and has incorporated this into more general climate sea-ice models.
Satellite records show that the year with smallest pond fraction in late spring (11% in 1996) had the biggest sea ice extent in September; and the year with the largest pond fraction (34% in 2012) featured the all-time low extent come the autumn.
"There is a fundamental limit to how skilful we can be with this," said Prof Feltham.
"If we're making a prediction for September in the spring, it means we've still got to contend with a few months of weather, and we can't capture all the natural variability in the system."
Prof Feltham described his team's work at a major UK Royal Society conference on the Arctic this week.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


The funeral of BBC Radio Derby presenter Colin Bloomfield, who died of cancer aged 33, has taken place in his hometown of Shrewsbury.

The service was held at St Chad's Church, followed by a reception at Shrewsbury Town Football Club.
Bloomfield was diagnosed with stage four melanoma, a type of skin cancer, in 2013 and died at a hospice in April.
The Colin Bloomfield Melanoma Appeal has raised more than Â£100,000 to help educate children about sun exposure.
The funeral featured music from Edward Elgar, as well as tributes from Mr Bloomfield's family and radio colleagues.
Radio Derby news editor Rachael Gilchrist gave a reading during the service looking back over his broadcasting career.
He worked at the radio station for more than 10 years as a news reporter, Derby County commentator and breakfast show presenter.
Four lifelong friends of Colin carried his coffin into St Chad's Church in Shrewsbury. It was draped in a flag for his beloved Shrewsbury Town and a scarf for his adopted Derby County.
Tributes were paid by family members and BBC Radio Derby colleagues. But he'd have been made up that there was also a reading by Shrewsbury manager Micky Mellon. How apt that Micky's side were promoted on the day Colin died.
And he loved celebrity spotting, so he'd have been delighted to see Rams legend Roger Davies and Olympic swimmer Ross Davenport among the mourners.
On the coffin, the flowers included sunflowers - very apt for a man who has done so much to warn of the dangers of too much sun, but who also had a truly sunny disposition.
RIP Bloomers, so many people are going to miss you.
Thousands of messages in tribute have been posted on social media or passed to the BBC.
Friend and former Olympic swimmer Ross Davenport said after his death: "Colin was someone you could open up to and trust wholeheartedly."


Parts of rural Wales are particularly at risk from a UK-wide shortage of donor blood for dogs, according to the only nationwide blood bank.

Pets Blood Bank UK (PBBUK) is holding donor recruitment sessions in Wales throughout July.
But because of geography they say vets in Wales must also know where blood can be sourced locally in an emergency.
PBBUK believes that at any one time they may have no more than a few days' supply of blood and related products.
Its spokesperson Joanne Patterson said the summer was especially problematic.
"While people are planning their holidays they're more concerned about kennelling their dogs and making sure they'll be happy than they are about giving blood," she said.
"But even though the summer is a particular problem, it can be a struggle year-round to ensure we have safe stock levels.
"The feedback we've had isn't so much that owners are reluctant to allow their pets to become donors, it's more that it simply doesn't dawn on them that there's a need for animal blood until their own pet requires it.
"So we're just trying to make all owners and vets aware of the issue whether they go on a local register or donate through PBBUK, or indeed both."
While PBBUK is alone in stockpiling a number of specialised products, Ms Patterson explained that when time is of the essence in an emergency, locally-sourced donors can often be the best solution.
"The advantage of PBBUK is that we have the laboratory facilities to produce not just blood, but also a whole range of derivatives such as plasma for burns or poisoning, white blood cells for immunological problems, and clotting agents for extensive bleeding," she added.
"But given that we're based in Loughborough, often the best option for straightforward emergency transfusions can be local donors, especially in parts of Wales which can be difficult to reach by road in a hurry.
"So whilst we'll always help with any request if we can, vets should also canvass their customers to create a local list of owners who'd be prepared to allow their pets to be donors."
Sheila Stewart, founder of the Capricorn Animal Sanctuary in Padeswood, Flintshire, has done that and is now on call for veterinary emergencies across north Wales.
"We'd always helped out the local vet on an ad hoc basis, until three dogs all needed blood on the same night," she said.
"It made me realise that there was a need to set up a more formal register.
"So now we can call on not only the dogs who we care for ourselves, but also the owners of the dogs we re-home if they're willing, and we've even put the word out for volunteers through local clubs and trainers.
"It's absolutely harmless to the donor dog and they might go their entire life without being called upon in any case.  So if it could potentially save another dog's life, then why not?"
Mike Jessop, a vet in Merthyr Tydfil, agreed that the geography of Wales posed particular challenges.
He said: "Owners need to be aware of the need for volunteers, and vets - especially those who're more than an hour away from urban centres - need to have an emergency plan for what they'd do if they were to receive a major trauma requiring more than one transfusion."
"But it's by no means doom and gloom.  There are actually more blood donors than ever before, and the reason that there's a shortage is because we're getting better and better at treating conditions which would have almost certainly proved fatal in the past."
While dogs, like humans, do have various different blood groups, they do not have as strong an immune response to blood other than their own type, meaning that in most circumstances a donation from any dog will be accepted by any other.
Donor dogs must weigh over 25kg and be fit and healthy. The most common breeds used are labradors, German shepherds and rottweilers, although any large breed is suitable.
Interested owners can sign up at their local vet or via the PBBUK website.


Firefighters have revealed details of their efforts to tackle a blaze at a derelict mansion in Dumfries.

They spent 10 hours at the scene of the fire at Carnsalloch House after the alarm was raised at 23:05 on Tuesday.
Initial reports suggested the woods at nearby Kirkton were on fire but officers said they found a single storey annexe of the building "well alight".
Two further teams of firefighters were sent to the scene.
Police are treating the fire as suspicious.
Station manager Ian Anderson said: "The fire had penetrated the roof of the annex and our crews were strategically positioned to tackle the flames from points outside the building.
"We had multiple jets in use to knock down the fire before our team undertook dampening down and cutting away operations to ensure it was fully extinguished."
He said one crew remained at the house until shortly after 09:00 on Wednesday to ensure the fire was completely out.
The A-listed property is on the national Buildings at Risk Register, but planners have so far refused permission for a scheme to save it which involves converting the house into flats and building additional houses in the grounds.
The proposals are set to go before Dumfries and Galloway Council's planning review committee next week.


The preferred bidder for the operator for the new Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) has been selected.

Venue management company SMG was chosen by Aberdeen City Council's finance, policy and resources committee.
An SMG spokesperson said the project would become a "jewel in the crown" of the city and the wider north-east economy.
Plans for the new AECC were approved last year.
Council leader Jenny Laing said: "I am looking forward to hearing about the exciting plans which SMG has for operating the new venue in the future."
The council said it should be stressed that jobs at the current and new AECC would remain as they are currently under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE).


Backdated holiday pay is being withheld from conductors on Southern rail if they take part in strikes, according to a letter sent to the RMT union.

The RMT is seeking legal advice over the letter, which was from Southern's parent firm Govia Thameslink (GTR).
It says GTR will withhold pay unless conductors have worked or will work normally during the dispute.
"We feel we cannot make these payments to conductors who are currently taking industrial action," the rail firm said.
RMT members are due to begin a 48-hour strike on the Southern network from midnight, in a dispute over the introduction of driver-only operated (DOO) trains.
The letter says: "As the dispute over conductors and DOO is ongoing and your members continue to breach their contracts by taking strike action, thereby causing significant loss to the business and disruption to our customers, we will (without prejudice to our rights) withhold payment of any backdated holiday pay from conductors.
"Any conductors who have either worked normally during the dispute, or confirm that they will now work normally during the remainder of the dispute and will not participate in further industrial action, will receive payment...
"Failing that, GTR intends to make the appropriate payment to employees of this grade in the pay run on 30 December 2016, subject to the current dispute being concluded and no further strike dates being called."
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said Southern had made the dispute "personal against their own staff" and added: "They have declared war on their passengers and staff alike."
He said the letter was sent to the union for the RMT to forward it to members.
A Southern spokesman said passengers had faced 15 days of strikes which had caused "misery and hardship", and there were seven more to come.
He said the strikes had made calculations of what pay is owed more complicated and added: "We plan to pay them once the industrial action is over."


Awards to celebrate good practice in the Welsh NHS have been handed out to winning teams and projects.

Powys Teaching Health Board won the overall award as well as the improving quality through better use of resources award.
There were nine categories open to NHS health organisations.
Health Minister Mark Drakeford congratulated the winners in a tweet, calling them "committed people working to improve care".
The winners were:


An Audi apprentice mechanic killed himself after being locked in a cage and burned in garage "banter", an inquest heard.

George Cheese, 18, had been employed at the German company's Reading garage for six months when he was found hanged on 9 April 2015.
The "horseplay", which also included being hosed down and put in a car boot, contributed to his depression, said Coroner Peter Bedford.
He recorded a narrative verdict.
Mr Bedford said Mr Cheese had also been affected by a relationship breakdown and medical discharge from the Army.
Reading Coroner's Court heard on Thursday that his body was found in woodland near his home in Woodley, Berkshire.
He had been prescribed medication for depression, which he had not been taking, "brought on by a series of life events", Mr Bedford said.
He also wrongly believed he had a serious illness and had researched cancer symptoms online.
The inquest heard that after leaving the Army due to fracturing both of his legs in 2014, Mr Cheese was happy at securing his "dream job" at Audi.
However, his parents Keith and Purdy Cheese told the inquest their son had come home with minor burns after his trousers were doused with flammable brake fluid and ignited.
He had also said he was placed in a bin, locked in a cage, put in a car boot, hosed down with water and given "dead legs" by colleagues during separate incidents.
His manager Terry Kindeleit said the "physical incidents", some of which he described as "horseplay", stopped after he warned staff.
The court heard that Mr Cheese had referred to the behaviour as "banter" that "sometimes goes too far".
Mr Cheese's family asked for neglect from Audi to form part of the coroner's conclusion but Mr Bedford said the legal requirement for this had not been met.
He said, however, that Mr Cheese's death had been a "wake-up call" for Audi and was in "no doubt" that action had been taken to prevent the same thing happening again.
Thames Valley Police said the incidents at Audi had been investigated and there was insufficient evidence for prosecution.


A couple in their 70s and a woman have been detained for questioning by police, 32 years after a crime that horrified France.

Grégory Villemin was four when his body was found in the Vologne river. His killer has never been found.
All three held by police were described as relatives of the boy's father.
The murder has continued to haunt France ever since, but advances in DNA technology have helped police shed further light on the case.
It was on 16 October 1984 that Grégory Villemin's body was found and a magistrate opened what became one of the biggest mysteries in French criminal history.
Hours before the boy was discovered, his hands and feet tied, his uncle said he had received a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped him. The following day, the child's parents received a letter that said: "Your son is dead, I have been avenged."
The next month, a cousin of the boy's father, Bernard Laroche, was arrested when his sister-in-law, Muriel Bolle, testified against him. He was released in 1985 when she retracted her statement, but shot dead by Jean-Marie Villemin, the boy's father, weeks later.
The father went to jail for Laroche's murder for several years. The boy's mother, Christine Villemin, was also jailed for her son's murder but later cleared. Both were later given compensation by the state for miscarriage of justice.
The anonymous phone-calls and poison-pen letters continued over the years, and the case was reopened first in 2000 and then again in 2008 in an attempt to identify the DNA on the letters. Three separate traces of DNA were found but not identified.
Little news has been heard in the "Grégory affair" since police said in 2013 that DNA tests had brought the investigation no further.
That was until about 08:00 (06:00 GMT) on Wednesday, when investigators from Dijon detained a couple in their 70s in the village of Aumontzey, in the Vologne river valley. Sources told French media that they were the father's uncle and aunt.
They were placed in police custody on suspicion of complicity in the murder, failing to report a crime or helping a person at risk, according to L'Est Républicain website.
A third person reported to be the father's half-sister was also being held. A fourth, said to be the victim's grandmother, was taken in as a witness. Her husband was also questioned.
Prosecutor Jean-Jacques Bosc said investigators had targeted "people very close to the heart of this case" and hoped to provide answers to the questions they had.
Local reporters covering the case pointed out that none of those held on Wednesday was suspected of the boy's murder.
They also said that Muriel Bolle, who as a teenager had initially blamed the killing on Bernard Laroche, had been asked to provide a DNA sample on Wednesday before later being released.


Complaints about energy companies have risen to their highest level, according to data from the Energy Ombudsman.

In the first six months of the year complaints more than doubled to 22,671 - from 10,598 for the same period in 2013 - with 84% related to billing.
The government said it was unacceptable that so many people were unhappy.
Energy UK, the industry lobby group, said the sector "works hard" and is investing in "resources and new systems" to resolve customers' issues.
Complaints made to the ombudsman about energy firms also reached a record for a single month, with 4,124 made in June, more than treble last year.
"The spike in complaints is in part a result of the rising cost of living, but also as a result of consumers becoming more aware of their rights and feeling more empowered to act and fight for a fair deal," said chief energy ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith.
A spokesman for Energy UK said: "The energy industry works hard to provide the best service for its customers but in an industry serving 27 million households sometimes things go wrong."
"However, no one wants to see complaints rise and each complaint is taken very seriously with companies working hard and investing in resources and new systems to resolve issues as quickly as possible. Most complaints are dealt with by the end of the next working day with no more than a phone call," said Energy UK.
A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman said: "Energy companies need to realise that people will not tolerate poor service and are switching suppliers in unprecedented numbers, particularly to small suppliers whose numbers have nearly trebled since 2010."
However, in a separate report, research from Ofgem shows three quarters of people in rented homes say they have never changed energy supplier.
One in five people did not think they were allowed to switch, said energy regulator Ofgem.
About nine million people live in private rented accommodation.
They were half as likely to switch their suppler compared with families who owned their homes, said the report.
"Research has shown that this group is not shopping around for their energy, and missing out on savings of up to ??200," said Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan.
The report says 77% of respondents who rent have not changed their electricity suppler, while 74% have never switched their gas company.
Ofgem referred the UK energy industry to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in June.
One of Ofgem's central concerns is the structure of the market which allows big companies to be both energy generators and suppliers to households. It wants the CMA's investigation to examine how this works and whether the relationship should be broken up.
Last month Ofgem also reached an agreement with the energy companies to make it easier for customers to switch supplier. Under the agreement customers will be able to switch energy supplier within three days by the end of the year.
Anyone who wants to switch must be given a two-week cooling-off period for the chance to change their mind, before the three-day process starts.
Next-day switching should be in place by the end of 2018 at the latest.
At present, the switching process can take five weeks, including the two-week cancellation period.
"A common myth among renters is that they have to accept the energy suppliers already in place when they move in. But very rarely is this the case," said Ofgem.


Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says youngster Ethan Ampadu has only been able to link up with Wales squad because of school half-term.

Ampadu, 16, who is sitting his GCSE exams, has been included in the squad for the training camp in Portugal.
"He's not missing any school but his priority at the moment is his exams," Tisdale said.
"He probably couldn't go away with Wales unless it happened to coincide with half-term week, which it does."
Ampadu has represented Wales up to Under-19 level, but is also eligible for England, the Republic of Ireland and Ghana.
Tisdale described the defensive player as a "remarkably gifted but grounded young man".
The Exeter-born teenager made his professional debut for the Grecians in August 2016 and was named Wales' young player of the year in November.
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He did not feature in the League Two play-offs, including Sunday's final defeat against Blackpool, with Tisdale saying his exams took priority.
"He's got a long career ahead of him and I think he'll do very well for himself," Tisdale added.
"He's played some really good games for us this year and is one of our better players.
"But it's very hard for a young chap at that age to play this level of football when he's at school every day, especially play-off games.
"The Welsh training squad has come at a very good time for him.
"He's a grounded young man and I don't think he'll change his attitude one little bit.
"He wants to do very well for himself and I'm sure he will."


Theresa May's new Tory government has revamped the Department for Business, which will be led by Greg Clark.

Renamed the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, it takes on energy policy.
As a result, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has been disbanded eight years after it was set up.
Oversight of universities, further education, skills and apprenticeships has been transferred to the Department for Education.
Mr Clark, the new Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: "I am thrilled to have been appointed to lead this new department charged with delivering a comprehensive industrial strategy, leading government's relationship with business, furthering our world-class science base, delivering affordable, clean energy and tackling climate change."
He was previously Communities Secretary.
The MP for Tunbridge Wells grew up in Middlesbrough and went on to study economics at Cambridge University before earning a doctorate at the London School of Economics for a thesis on incentive payments.
Before entering politics, Mr Clark worked for the Boston Consulting Group, one of the world's biggest consultancy firms.
Sajid Javid, the previous Business Secretary, replaces Mr Clark at the Department for Communities and Local Government, which is considered a lower profile role.
The Institute for Government questioned the wisdom of such a major overhaul of the energy and business portfolios.
"The further changes to BIS [Department for Business], DECC [Department of Energy] and DfE [Department for Education] were unexpected, and will inevitably come at a cost. In 2007, when Gordon Brown created the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills, the initial start-up costs were around Â£15m," the Institute said.
"Beyond these costs, departmental changes cause a massive distraction, with the initial transition taking months, and full integration taking years."
Ed Miliband, a former Climate and Energy Secretary and ex-Labour leader, tweeted: "DECC abolition just plain stupid. Climate not even mentioned in new dept. title. Matters because depts shape priorities shape outcomes."
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said the abolition was a "deeply worrying move", adding: "Dealing with climate change requires a dedicated minister at the Cabinet table. To throw it into the basement of another Whitehall department looks like a serious backwards step."
However, Mr Clark's appointment was welcomed  by Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.
"He understands climate change and has written influential papers on the benefits of Britain developing a low-carbon economy," he said.
"Importantly, he sees that economic growth and tackling climate change are bedfellows, not opponents - and he now has the opportunity to align British industry, energy and climate policy in a way that's never been done before."


Three different 999 services had to be stood down after a "body in the water" turned out to be a bronze sculpture.

Fire, police and coastguard teams were called to Butley Creek near Orford, Suffolk, on Wednesday by a member of the public who had seen the supine figure of a man lying in the water.
The "body" turned out to be a work of art called A Thousand Tides, which has been at the site for more than a year.
A Suffolk Police spokesman described the work as "quite realistic".
Read more Suffolk stories here
The sculpture, by artist Laurence Edwards, was designed to only be seen at low tide and was intended to sink eventually.
However, Mr Edwards said it had "stayed on the surface longer than it should".
He said: "I've always been a bit worried that a helicopter would spot it and want to rescue it.
"To convince someone it's a real person is a great achievement, although I would like to apologise to the poor person who called it in."
The sculpture was a parting gift to the area from Mr Edwards, who had a studio and foundry works nearby for 15 years until spring 2016 before moving to Halesworth.
Mr Edwards' website says his work "attempts to do justice to the locality and its history, by peopling it with large figures that have survived the ravages of the water and the elements."
Suffolk Police confirmed they attended Butley Creek, saying: "Police received a call from a member of the public reporting what they believed to be a body in the river.
"The fire service and coastguard were also called to assist, but a short while later this was actually confirmed to be a sculpture."
A Thousand Tides is reminiscent of Antony Gormley's Another Place installation on Crosby beach in Merseyside, which depicts 100 bronze figures looking out over the Irish Sea.


A biker has been been injured in a collision involving a bus near Glasgow Airport.

The A8 Greenock Road was closed in both directions between Abbotsinch Road and Inchinnan Drive following the crash.
Police were called to the scene at about 10:30 and have been directing traffic onto diversion routes.
Traffic was reported to be heavy in the area.


In the space of only a few weeks, the film Abdo Mota, starring young and upcoming actor Mohamed Ramadan, has topped the Egyptian box office, earning more than films featuring Egypt's well-established stars.

Abdo Mota is the unlikely hero of the film everyone's talking about in Egypt. He is a "baltagy" - an Arabic term for thug.
At one point in the film, Abdo talks triumphantly about his criminal record, listing the people he has hurt and others he has killed.
In Egypt these men have been linked to the Mubarak regime. They were the plain-clothed men blamed for the violence and the killing of many protesters.
The most infamous case is what is now known as the Battle of the Camels, in which men rode into Tahrir square on camel and horseback, carrying sticks and knives and attacking protesters.
Yet, despite his brutality, Abdo is portrayed as a human character with the same hopes and fears as anyone else.
Abdo Mota is not the only "baltagy" hitting the screens.
Since Egypt's 25 January revolution, there has been a pop culture obsession with the violent and shadowy lives of this underground cult of strong men.
The fasting month of Ramadan is considered by producers and distributors as prime season for television series, as families gather around their television sets after the breaking of the fast.
During last Ramadan, in August, at least two major TV series had thugs as central characters. One, which was actually called El Baltagy, was among the most viewed.
"Abdo Mota offers nothing but the cycle of violence a thug falls into," said Egyptian film critic Magda Maurice.
"It's an exhibition of the different guns and arms used nowadays by thugs but the content of the film is really weak," she said.
"It offers no explanation or analysis to this phenomenon."
The current obsession with these men, she says, does not help the audience understand them.
"We see this every day. What the film is trying to portray is the reality in Egypt now," said one person after watching the film.
"These films are trying to teach people how to be thugs," another commented.
That accusation is rejected by the film's lead actor, Mohamed Ramadan.
"We're not condoning thuggery," he told Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm.
"We're trying to understand it and find solutions to this problem."
The violent central character is not the only cause of controversy.
A belly-dancing sequence in the film features a song which praises the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and his grandchildren.
"You pure one. The mother of Hassan and Hussein," goes the song, referring to Fatima Al-Zahra, one of Islam's most deeply respected female figures.
This has caused widespread anger among Muslim scholars and has led to Egypt's highest religious authority, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, to order the scene to be cut from future showings.
"This film showed what is essentially a religious song praising the family of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him," said Islamic Sufi scholar Sheikh Abul Azayem.
"To see a belly dancer dancing to that song is disgusting, not just to Muslims in Egypt but across the Islamic world," he argued.
The film makers say that they never meant to insult the prophet and that the song is more traditional than religious but the controversy and bad reviews seem to be having little effect on the film's popularity.
"When people go to see a film that means it's successful," said producer Mohamed El-Sobky.
"Critics can say what they want. I make films for people."
The commercial success of films like Abdo Mota, which many critics accuse of being shallow and violent, may not reflect a new cinematic movement but it does highlight Egypt's fascination with the lives of these strongmen and their links to the politics of the past.


Figures from industry bodies indicate that bicycles outsold cars in 26 of the European Union's 28 states in 2012.

It is thought the trend reflects a slump in car sales brought on by the continent's economic crisis.
The popularity of cycling appears to be going beyond the traditional "cycling capitals" of northern Europe such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen.
Italy was typical of many southern European states, with 1.6 million bikes bought as against 1.4 million cars.
The northern Italian city of Milan is among the latest European cities to roll out a public bike-sharing scheme, modelled on widely-used predecessors in Paris and London.
In 2011 car sales in Italy slumped to the level at which they stood in 1964, according to local media.
The Spanish capital, Madrid, has recently unveiled plans for a "green ring" of cycle paths looping ten kilometres around the city.
Only in Belgium and Luxembourg did car sales outstrip those of bikes in 2012.
"There are more and more people cycling, as a fashion thing, but also for economic reasons," Pedro Carvalho, head of a magazine for cyclists in Portugal, told AFP.
Authorities in London say the number of trips per day in the city by bike went up by 66% in the 10 years up to 2011 to reach 500,000.
However, in November, six cyclists were killed on London's roads in the space of 14 days, raising questions over how safe it is to cycle on the capital's road.


A pioneering scheme that aims to harness the skills of refugees fleeing conflict and unrest in their home countries could help boost health services in north-east England.

Middlesbrough has the highest number of asylum seekers in the UK. Around one in every 186 people in the town is seeking refugee status, well over the government guidelines of no more than one in every 200 of the local population.
But many of the refugees are skilled professionals such as doctors or pharmacists, skills that happen to be in short supply in the area.
I have been to meet the foreign doctors who are participating in the scheme. Unable to practise their profession at home, they are embracing the opportunity to use their skills in an understaffed NHS.
Rouni Youssef, 27, picks up a patient's notes from the trolley outside the curtained cubicle and begins to thumb through the details.
"Interesting," he mutters to himself. "I think we should do an MRI."
I ask him what the day ahead on the hospital ward is looking like but Dr Youssef does not hear me. He is focused on the medical details before him, his eyes flicking feverishly over the scans like a sleuth over clues.
"Maybe some kidney malfunction here," he says.
Dr Youssef is polite and friendly towards me but I know I am holding him back from what he would rather be doing. It is, after all, what he has dreamed of doing all his life and what he has spent so many years training to do.
"I'm a Kurd from Aleppo," he shrugs. "And I'm a medical doctor but it just became too unsafe to stay in Syria and in 2014, I had to flee.
"I ended up here in Middlesbrough with nothing: no friends, no family and no career. I couldn't be a doctor any more. You can't imagine how that feels. It was like someone had cut off a body part.
"I was nothing and I had to start from scratch."
But thanks to the scheme run by the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust and a refugee charity called Investing in People and Culture, Dr Youssef once again is sporting a stethoscope around his neck.
He is currently on an unpaid clinical placement at the University Hospital of North Tees but he has just taken the second part of his Plab exams (an assessment conducted by the General Medical Council which all overseas doctors from outside the EEA must pass before they can legally practise medicine in the UK). If he passes, he will start applying for jobs in September.
"I'd love to be a consultant paediatrician," he admits shyly. "Babies are such dear little creatures - they're like angels, you know?"
Dr Jane Metcalf, deputy medical director at the hospital, pops down to the ward to find out how his latest exams have gone.
She describes the Resettlement Programme For Overseas Doctors as primarily a humanitarian project to get skilled healthcare professionals back into practice but she also admits that, since the North East has a shortage of qualified doctors, it is also in the trust's interests to use their refugee resources.
The current scheme comprises 11 doctors and one pharmacist, from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan and the Congo.
"It's a win-win situation," Dr Metcalf explains. "Although the training is rigorous, the cost is low... to help the doctors through their exams and English tuition it's about Â£5,000 per doctor and when you compare that to the Â£250,000 it takes to train someone in the UK through medicine, it's pretty cost-effective.
"If we can get doctors like Rouni back into practice within a year that would be a tremendous achievement."
The biggest hurdle for the doctors though is passing the extremely high level, but requisite, English exam.
In an upstairs room at Middlesbrough library, the other doctors on the pilot scheme are learning about the inappropriate use of colloquial English in the written form.
Everyone is grumbling about the finicky example on the white board which, despite being a native speaker and having a university degree in English, even makes me pause for thought.
Eli, a GP from Congo, has had a long and difficult battle to win refugee status and was unable to join the scheme until his asylum papers were granted. While waiting however, he volunteered for the Alzheimer's Society and is now determined to work in geriatric medicine.
"We are refugees, yes," he smiles. "But we are doctors too. We don't take this opportunity for granted. Before this programme we had no road, no route. Now we have hope again. And we can give something back."
Ahmad, from Afghanistan, was just months away from completing his medical training as a specialist in paediatric orthopaedics when his life was threatened by the Taliban, forcing him and his family to flee Kabul.
"Now I'm optimistic for the future," he says. "I know that one day soon I will practise my passion again."
Outside the library I meet Bini Araia, founder of Investing in People and Culture, the charity working in partnership with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust. He tells me that before the scheme's existence, many of the refugee surgeons and doctors, under pressure from their local job centre, were resigned to a life in the UK working in factories, garages or supermarkets.
"But we have a ready-made skill set!" he tells me. "And it's great to show with this programme that refugees can benefit UK society."
Back on the ward at the hospital, there are no "baby angels" for Dr Youssef to treat today. Instead, his mentor, consultant physician Dr Sue Jones, asks him to join her as she examines an elderly patient who has been complaining of acute hip pain. Dr Youssef jogs eagerly to the patient's bedside.
"Well hello sir!" he beams. "And how are you feeling today? Is it really true you're 101?" He squats down and holds the man's hand, joking with him and reassuring him. I catch Dr Jones's eye. "Isn't he impressive?" she mouths delightedly.
Dr Metcalf wants to encourage other NHS trusts to implement the resettlement scheme for refugee doctors, something Dr Youssef welcomes.
"When I first walked back on to the ward," he remembers, "it felt like I had been fasting for 18 hours and then someone gave me a sip of cold, delicious water."
We walk together to the Rapid Assessment clinic.
"I want to be a doctor here in Middlesbrough," he continues, "because the people are so friendly." Then he grins."But the local accent here, it's a bit, um, fresh, isn't it?"
Emma Jane Kirby reports for BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.


Accrington Stanley held Yeovil Town to a draw at Huish Park despite playing almost 70 minutes with 10 men.

Scott Brown was sent off for the visitors before they took the lead through Omar Beckles in the 51st minute.
Francois Zoko equalised for the Glovers but they were unable to find a winner.
Accrington were reduced to 10 men after just 22 minutes when Brown was dismissed for a lunge on Zoko.
Referee Nigel Miller did not hesitate in producing the red card and John Coleman responded with a defensive double substitution.
However, it was the visitors who took the lead against the run of play as a Shay McCartan cross was flicked into the far corner by the head of Beckles.
Coleman's men defended well but Yeovil were back on level terms through Zoko in the 74th minute, and both sides had to settle for a point.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Yeovil Town 1, Accrington Stanley 1.
Second Half ends, Yeovil Town 1, Accrington Stanley 1.
Corner,  Yeovil Town. Conceded by Marek Rodak.
Attempt saved. Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro (Yeovil Town) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top right corner.
Attempt missed. Billy Kee (Accrington Stanley) right footed shot from more than 35 yards misses to the right.
Attempt missed. Shayon Harrison (Yeovil Town) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top right corner.
Foul by Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town).
Matty Pearson (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Yeovil Town. Conceded by Harvey Rodgers.
Attempt blocked. Billy Kee (Accrington Stanley) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Ben Whitfield (Yeovil Town).
Billy Kee (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Shayon Harrison (Yeovil Town).
Noor Husin (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
(Yeovil Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Billy Kee (Accrington Stanley).
Substitution, Yeovil Town. Shayon Harrison replaces Matthew Dolan.
Goal!  Yeovil Town 1, Accrington Stanley 1. Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town) header from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Matthew Dolan with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Yeovil Town. Conceded by Janoi Donacien.
Attempt missed. Ben Whitfield (Yeovil Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left.
Substitution, Accrington Stanley. Romuald Boco replaces Shay McCartan.
Attempt missed. Bevis Mugabi (Yeovil Town) right footed shot from very close range misses to the right.
Corner,  Yeovil Town. Conceded by Harvey Rodgers.
Attempt missed. Shay McCartan (Accrington Stanley) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Attempt missed. Bevis Mugabi (Yeovil Town) header from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right.
Harvey Rodgers (Accrington Stanley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Kevin Dawson (Yeovil Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Harvey Rodgers (Accrington Stanley).
Attempt saved. Bevis Mugabi (Yeovil Town) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro (Yeovil Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Omar Beckles (Accrington Stanley).
Attempt missed. Shay McCartan (Accrington Stanley) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
Substitution, Yeovil Town. Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro replaces Tom Eaves.
Attempt missed. Matt Butcher (Yeovil Town) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Attempt missed. Francois Zoko (Yeovil Town) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is too high.
Goal!  Yeovil Town 0, Accrington Stanley 1. Omar Beckles (Accrington Stanley) header from very close range to the top right corner. Assisted by Shay McCartan with a cross.
Corner,  Accrington Stanley. Conceded by Matthew Dolan.
Foul by Ryan Dickson (Yeovil Town).
Matty Pearson (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Second Half begins Yeovil Town 0, Accrington Stanley 0.


A major fire at a former cotton mill is being treated as arson, police said.

About 100 homes were evacuated while 80 firefighters tackled the blaze at Maple Mill in Oldham on 15 December. No-one was injured in the incident.
Witnesses reported seeing flames leap into the air up to 200ft (60m). The heat from from the fire could be felt 550 yards (500m) away.
Greater Manchester Police is seeking any information about the blaze, which took fire crews seven hours to control.
The front of the building collapsed during the fire.


Manchester United and Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher is taking an extended break from football because of a serious abdominal problem.

A United statement said the 27-year-old is suffering from ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel condition.
His last game was in the 2-2 Champions League home draw against Benfica on 22 November, in which he scored.
The Old Trafford club said Fletcher had "accepted medical advice to take an extended break".
He is taking a rest "in order to afford the best chance possible of achieving full remission once again".
He is one of the most inspirational players I have had the pleasure of working with and, on behalf of his Scotland team-mates and my backroom staff, I sincerely hope this time off, allied to the support of his family, will enable him to make a full recovery
The statement added: "Darren's continued desire to play and his loyalty to both club and country has probably compromised the chances of optimising his own health and fitness.
"We request that his privacy is respected and hope that the removal of the additional stress associated with speculation regarding his health will also aid his recovery."
Fletcher signed a new four-year deal until 2015 with United in March.
United defender Rio Ferdinand said on Twitter: "We are going to miss two big players in Fletcher and [Nemanja] Vidic. I hope they both come back fitter and stronger than ever."
Fletcher made only one start for United last term after 1 March and was an unused substitute for the 3-1 Champions League final defeat by Barcelona. He has made 10 appearances in all competitions for United during the current campaign.
Fletcher's absence is another blow to United, who suffered a huge setback last week when they were eliminated from the Champions League in the group stage for only the third time in 16 years.
It is also a big loss for Scotland, for whom Fletcher is an integral figure. Their next match is a friendly against Slovenia in February.
Fletcher's last appearance in international football came in November's 2-1 friendly win for Scotland in Cyprus. He played for 64 minutes before being replaced by Brighton's Craig Mackail-Smith.
Scotland manager Craig Levein said: "I am obviously absolutely devastated for Darren because I know how hard he has worked to get back to playing regularly for his club and country.
"He is one of the most inspirational players I have had the pleasure of working with and, on behalf of his Scotland team-mates and my backroom staff, I sincerely hope this time off, allied to the support of his family, will enable him to make a full recovery."
Levein hailed Fletcher's on-pitch efforts, adding: "Darren has shown tremendous dedication and fortitude, demonstrated by his ability to overcome this illness and perform at the highest level for Manchester United and Scotland.
"I spoke with Sir Alex Ferguson and Darren this week and the most important thing, at this stage, is for the player to be given time to rest and recuperate. Nobody is more committed to his country's cause than our captain.
"He is a central part of our plans for the World Cup 2014 qualifiers but, at this stage, his health is paramount and I would like to reiterate the best wishes of everyone at involved with the national team and the Scottish FA."
Fletcher's illness, which also afflicts five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave and former England rugby union captain Lewis Moody, could result in surgery, according to a leading medical specialist.
"Most patients experience periods of good health and periods of bad health," Professor Alastair J M Watson, Professor of Medicine and consultant gastroenterologist at Royal Liverpool University, told BBC Sport.
"In most people, it is quite mild and no more than a minor inconvenience, but in a proportion of patients it can be severe.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"In some cases, it has to be treated by having the bowel removed, but that is the worst-case scenario.
"It is a disease which gets worse in times of stress so resting along with drugs will help.
"It affects about one in 500 people and if anything is getting more common rather than less common."
Fletcher's absence leaves United manager Sir Alex Ferguson with another selection problem.
The club's only specialist midfielders currently available are Michael Carrick, Park Ji-sung, Darron Gibson and Ryan Giggs, although United have made use of the versatile Phil Jones. Reserve midfielders Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison are possible options.
United's injured midfielders include Anderson, expected back in February, and Tom Cleverley, who is aiming to return for some Christmas fixtures.
Former Scotland star Pat Nevin said: "It is really bad news but the good thing for Darren is that Manchester United will ensure he gets the best possible treatment and his good health is paramount.
"I watch him regularly for Scotland and they have not just built a team around him as a player, they have built it around his ethics and approach to the game.
"He is honest and incredibly hard-working, so when you examine those qualities it is no surprise he has tried to play through his illness time and time again until he was no longer able to do so."
Manchester United striker Michael Owen said on Twitter: "Wishing Fletch all the best in his recovery. #topbloke."


Liverpool have signed 39-year-old former Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Manninger on a short-term contract.

Manninger, who won the last of his 33 caps for Austria in 2009, was released by German side FC Augsburg last month.
He has been training with Liverpool and now becomes their third-choice keeper, behind Loris Karius and Simon Mignolet.
"I've still got something left, for sure," said Manninger, who spent five years at Arsenal but has not played in the Premier League since May 2001.
Asked about his return to English football after such a long absence, he told the Liverpool website: "After these years, in Italy and the last four years in Germany, I hadn't given up, I still waited for the phone call.
"Obviously it's probably not the time for me to push for the next three or four years to get a place in the goal.
"Time says it's not possible to play 50 games a year. But if I'm called up, I'm definitely there for games, I will play."
Liverpool have signed five other players this summer so far - Mainz goalkeeper Karius, Schalke centre-back Joel Matip, Red Star Belgrade midfielder Marko Grujic, Southampton forward Sadio Mane and FC Augsburg defender Ragnar Klavan.
They have also agreed a deal to sign Newcastle midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Talking about mental health can be tough.

But a charity which helps farmers and rural families in Northern Ireland says there's been a 25% increase in the number of farmers calling them for help in the past year.
Rural Support's chief executive, Jude McCann, told the BBC the most common reason for calls was financial worries.
He was speaking at the Farmers Health Conference, in Cookstown, County Tyrone, on Thursday.
Health organisations and government groups came together to discuss the problems facing farmers.
Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill has blamed falling farm gate prices for some of the stress farmers face.
She says: "People are at the end of their tether.
"There is no doubt about it, this has been such a financially challenging year.
"The prices they're receiving are putting farmers out of business and the impact on them is obvious. I am engaging with farmers who aren't sleeping because of the worry and the stress they are under. It's just so important that we have this conversation."
The conference brought together people from across the agri-health sector to try and improve the support services currently on offer.
Community mental health worker, Mellissa Andrews, told delegates a more tailored support is needed to reach out to farmers.
"Not everyone is comfortable going to a meditation class, or yoga or even a computer class - that's not the farmers' way," she says.
"The best thing to do would be to get out there into their communities; the local shows and vintage rallies and meet them on their own level."
Cormac McKervey is agri-manager at the Ulster Bank and deals with farmers everyday.
He says that although the bank has to focus on the financial side of things, they need to be aware of what support services are out there too.
"There's all the social issues and the impact on the family inside the farm door, which we don't have access to.
"The biggest single thing we can do is to make our staff aware of the issues and the trigger points, to be aware that maybe this farmer needs more than purely financial help.
"If we can signpost them to rural support or other agencies that are trying to help them then hopefully we've done something."


Italy's former world number five Sara Errani has been banned for two months after failing a drugs test - because her mother's cancer drug accidentally contaminated a family meal.

The 30-year-old, who reached the French Open final in 2012, tested positive for banned drug letrozole.
Errani's mother had been using the drug as part of her breast cancer treatment.
But she had dropped some pills on a kitchen worktop where tortellini and broth were later prepared.
A tribunal panel accepted the player probably ingested the substance through accidental food contamination.
But it was ruled Errani, now ranked 98, could have done more to protect herself, leading to the two-month sanction.
Letrozole increases lean body mass and was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) over concerns it was being abused by bodybuilders.
An independent tribunal, appointed by the International Tennis Federation, said there was no evidence it would enhance the performance of an elite tennis player.
It is the most high-profile drugs case in women's tennis since that of Maria Sharapova, who beat Errani in the 2012 French final.
The Russian returned to the tour earlier this year after she was banned for 15 months on appeal following a positive test for meldonium.
Errani's mother and father told the tribunal hearing in July that after the positive finding, they carried out an experiment which found the drug dissolved in a broth, plus a meat mixture for tortellini, without being detectable.
"Together with my family we have tried to understand how this contamination could have happened because I am 100% certain I haven't taken a pill by mistake," said Errani in a statement.
"The only viable option has been that an accidental food contamination occurred at some stage in the house."
She accepted a charge of violating anti-doping rules in April. The ban is effective from 3 August.
Errani said she was "very frustrated" and "extremely disappointed" by the sanction but was "at peace with my conscience and aware I haven't done anything wrong".
In 2012, she stopped working with Luis Garcia del Moral, one of the doctors at the centre of cyclist Lance Armstrong's doping scandal.
"I'm not interested in keeping working with a person that is involved in these things," said Errani at the time.


Electronic tags have been fitted to one of Europe's rarest birds to understand its dramatic decline at a Powys reserve.

The RSPB estimates the population of Greenland white-fronted geese at Ynyshir has fallen by 83% since 1990.
The research project is being funded by Welsh Government.
It comes after a decision by ministers in August not to implement an outright ban on shooting the rare birds caused controversy.
Their movements will be monitored in real time, helping the charity and other partners to understand their needs and put conservation measures in place.
It is hoped the scheme will contribute towards international efforts to boost numbers of the threatened species.
The global population of Greenland white-fronted geese is estimated to be 18,879 - the lowest recorded since spring 1985 - and a marked decline on the last estimate of 20,797 in spring 2014.
The birds, which breed in Greenland, migrate in spring and autumn through south and west Iceland to wintering grounds in the British Isles.
The majority head for Ireland and western Scotland.
The geese that reach Wales have traditionally spent the winter at the Ynyshir reserve on the Dyfi Estuary, near Machynlleth, with a small and little-known roaming population on Anglesey.
Arfon Williams, countryside manager for RSPB Cymru, said he remembered a time about 15 to 20 years ago when there would be more than 150 geese at the Ynyshir site.
On the day we visited there were just 14 but the reason for the decline is not known.
Mr Williams said: "We know very little about these geese, a better understanding of how they use the area will give us more of an idea of their needs."
The electronic tags fitted to two of the geese allow a team of researchers to monitor their movements.
On a computer screen at the reserve's visitors centre, site manager Dave Anning takes me through what has been gleaned from the experiment so far.
"This is incredible data - we've learnt so much in such a short period of time.
"In particular, we're finding that they're covering a far bigger area of the estuary than we thought and using fields for drinking and roosting which we had no inclination about."
One bird surprised researchers by leaving the Dyfi Estuary and crossing the Irish Sea in a single day, arriving at another bird reserve north of Dublin. It then flew south the following day to Wexford.
The team are keen to understand more about the relationship between the geese that choose to winter in Ireland and Wales and find out whether they are distinct populations or part of the same group in Greenland.
Meurig Rees, from the British Association of Shooting and Conservation, another partner in the project, said the decline in numbers had been "immense" and particularly severe in Wales.
"If we can monitor them, help them survive our winter here, make sure they feed properly and aren't disturbed - then we can send them back from Wales to Greenland to breed in a healthy state.
"That then gives them a better chance to survive the breeding season and hopefully the numbers over the years will increase coming back into Wales."
The Welsh Government caused controversy in August with a decision not to implement an outright ban on shooting these geese.
Ministers said a public consultation "did not generate any evidence to indicate white-fronted geese are currently being shot in Wales".
An existing voluntary ban on land where wildfowling clubs have specific rights to shoot is to be maintained and conservation efforts, like the scheme at Ynyshir, to be carried out.
At the time the RSPB branded the move "appalling".


Extra time has been granted to detectives quizzing a murder suspect over the discovery of a body in a stream.

The man, who has not yet been formally identified, was discovered in a wooded area near the Goodwyns housing estate in Dorking on Monday.
Surrey Police has been given more time to question a 21-year-old male arrested on suspicion of murder.
The force is awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination.


A mother who left her newborn baby in a manger in a nativity scene in a New York church on Monday has been found and will not be charged, officials say.

The district attorney of Queens borough said the mother had been interviewed but he would not name her.
New York's safe haven law allows newborns to be left anonymously at a church but it must be left with someone or the authorities must be alerted.
Brooklyn Bishop Octavio Cisneros said the baby boy was a "miracle child".
In a statement late on Wednesday, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said: "After a full review of all the facts and circumstances surrounding the discovery of a newborn infant this past Monday in a creche inside of Holy Child Jesus church - including locating and interviewing the mother - my office has determined that no criminal prosecution of the child's mother is warranted."
He added: "It appears that the mother, in this case, felt her newborn child would be found safely in the church and chose to place the baby in the manger because it was the warmest place in the church, and further she returned the following morning to make certain that the baby had been found."
The baby had been found by church custodian Jose Moran after he returned to the empty chapel after lunch on Monday.
He heard the baby crying and found it wrapped in towels in the manger with its umbilical cord still attached.
CCTV footage showed the mother arriving at the church with the baby and leaving without him.
Other footage had shown her earlier entering a shop and leaving with newly bought towels.
Emergency services took the newborn to hospital where he is in good health.
Churches, hospitals, fire stations and police stations can all be safe havens for leaving babies anonymously.
Parish priest, the Rev Christopher Ryan Heanue, said the story carried a message of hope.
He told the New York Times: "The story went most certainly viral, because it's a beautiful story. I pray that it's a story that will make people appreciate the gifts of life."


A walkway allowing visitors to see the hull of Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, is due to open in 2012.

The structure will be in place during the final phase of the wreck's conservation in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
The Tudor warship, which is being sprayed with a conserving solution inside a chamber, will begin a five-year drying process this year.
The walkway will give access to the chamber until the process is complete.
The chamber is due to be removed completely in 2016.
The ship sank while leading an attack on a French invasion fleet in 1545 and was raised from the sea bed in 1982.
The wreck has undergone 17 years of conservation treatment and is due to go on public display in 2012 when a dedicated museum will open in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard.
The existing Mary Rose Museum will remain open during the construction of the new attraction.


A new earthquake has struck northern Italy, killing at least 16 people and injuring 200 others, officials say.

The magnitude 5.8 quake hit the Emilia Romagna region, damaging buildings and causing panic among residents living in tents after the earthquake on 20 May.
That quake killed seven people and caused significant damage to the region's cultural heritage.
The number of people made homeless has now gone up from 6,000 to 14,000, the Italian government says.
At least seven people are missing, and there are fears that a number of others may be buried under the rubble.
Prime Minister Mario Monti said his government would "do everything we must do and is possible to do in the shortest possible time to guarantee a return to normal life in this area, that is so special, so important, so productive for Italy".
Government troops have been sent to the affected areas, and an emergency cabinet meeting will be held on Wednesday.
Tuesday's quake struck 40km (25 miles) north of Bologna at a depth of 9.6km (six miles) at about 09:03 local time (07:03 GMT).
Thousands of residents ran out of buildings after the tremor, which was felt as far away as Venice and the Austrian border.
The towns of Mirandola, Medolla and Cavezzo were closest to the epicentre, but the northern cities of Milan and Bologna were shaken too.
Among the dead were four people in Mirandola, including two who were in a factory that collapsed. Three people also died in San Felice, and two in Cavezzo.
In Mirandola, the San Francis church collapsed, leaving only its facade standing.
Three people were killed at a factory that had only been cleared for re-entry on Monday, following the 20 May quake, the Corriere della Sera news website says.
By Dany MitzmanCrevalcore
Crevalcore is a very small town with a historic centre which is completely blocked off. Some buildings have huge cracks, one chimney top is skewed on a roof.
Many buildings have staircases coming away from the walls.
People are hanging around in the streets, waiting to find out if they can go back into their homes.
I walked past an old people's home and everyone was in the garden.
People are absolutely terrified. Many have been unable to sleep properly since the first quake and are worried about losing their homes.
A train with 450 beds on board has been brought in for people to sleep in overnight because the buildings really aren't accessible.
The schools opened this morning, but the teachers evacuated them immediately. The walls were shaking - which was terrifying for the children.
Quiet terror of earthquake victims
A parish priest in the town of Rovereto di Novi is reported to have been killed by a falling beam when he went back into his church to save a Madonna statue.
"It's a disaster, I've never seen anything like it," Cavezzo Mayor Stefano Draghetti was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Christopher Gilbert, a Londoner living in Modena, said he felt "a rolling earthquake lasting around 15 seconds - people were quite frightened".
"I was having a coffee when the quake struck and felt a swaying motion so I clutched onto a bar in the cafe to steady myself. Schools and offices were evacuated," he told the BBC.
Chris Brewerton, living in Mantua, told the BBC that Tuesday's quake appeared stronger than the one on 20 May, which was 6.0 in magnitude. Mantua is 58km (36 miles) north of Modena.
"The chair starts shaking and there's a feeling of waves below me," he said. "I rush out into the garden; the shutters and garage door are banging, the ground below me swaying."
There were several aftershocks since, including a large one at about midday which sent people out into the streets in cities up to 100km away, the BBC's Mark Duff reports from northern Italy.
In Pisa, offices were evacuated as a precautionary measure while there were moments of panic in Venice, where a statue fell to the ground.
Pictures from the worst-affected areas show factories and office blocks reduced to rubble.
Firemen with dogs are now trawling through what remains of the buildings for survivors.
Calls to emergency services have overloaded the telephone network in some areas, causing a system blackout. Train services have been halted in some parts of northern Italy.
Emilia Romagna - one of Italy's most agriculturally productive areas famous for many delicacies - has been struggling to recover from the previous quake.
Reports say that Tuesday's tremor dealt a blow to the region's world-famous balsamic vinegar industry - after the previous quake nine days ago hit Parmesan production.
A friendly match between Italy and Luxembourg ahead of the Euro 2012 football championships, due to be played in the northern city of Parma on Tuesday, has been called off.
The 20 May quake destroyed many centuries-old buildings of cultural value. It was the worst to hit Italy since the L'Aquila tremor that killed nearly 300 people in 2009.


"The only luxury we allow ourselves," says Janos Ofella, 54, as he studies the special offers in the supermarket advertisement, "is coffee."

Not counting basics such as cooking oil, flour and sugar, his family of five spends 43 euros ($58; Â£36) a week on food.
That is rather typical in a country where 1.5 million people out of a population of 10 million could not afford to properly warm their homes last winter.
But what is unusual about Janos and his family is that they have a new home, paid for by the state, when their mortgage payments to the bank on their old home became unaffordable.
Already 43 families have already moved into this purpose-built village 30km (19 miles) south of Budapest.
Each family was selected by the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, on the basis of criteria that included having children and being sufficiently ambitious to find work.
The village is a unique and controversial social experiment, but Janos, who is physically handicapped, has only praise for the initiative.
"My wife found work quickly, my children settled in to the school. There is already a good community here," he says.
He and his family ran heavily into debt in their old home in Tokod, in western Hungary - just one of more than a million households who fell foul of mortgages denominated in foreign currencies when the economic crisis struck in 2008.
Interest rates in Hungarian forints had been traditionally high, and in the first years of the new millennium as money flooded the world markets, parent banks abroad encouraged their subsidiaries in Hungary to make available cheap loans, denominated in Swiss francs in particular.
Back in 2007 there were 150 forints to the Swiss franc, but today there are 250 to the Swiss franc, and more than one in five can no longer keep up with their monthly payments.
Hungarian households now owe about 10bn euros to the banks, with companies and local councils owing another 8bn euros.
Janos and his family pay about half the rent they would expect to for a house of this size. The Maltese charity also gives advice on finding work and retraining.
If a family can afford a car, Budapest is only half an hour away on the motorway.  In the window of the charity office, there is even an advertisement for construction workers.
Nevertheless, the initiative has been savaged by opposition parties and all but the staunchly pro-government media, as a "debtors' ghetto".
There is no shop, post office, creche or school, and gas was not provided following fears the families would not be able to pay their bills.
Apart from the school bus, few other buses connect the estate with the town of Ocsa, 6km away. Much criticism has also been directed at the social stigma those living in the estate might feel, lumped together in one place for all the world to see.
Because of such negative media attention, few inhabitants are willing to be interviewed. Partly in consequence, there is little demand, for the time being, for the 37 homes that are still empty.
The government, though, is proud of its project, and defends it fiercely.
"You have to see the housing estate in the context of a wide raft of measures designed to help those in trouble with foreign currency mortgages," says Erika Asztalos, Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry for Human Resources.
"It was devised to keep families together who had either lost their homes, or were in danger of that happening."
Other measures already taken by the Fidesz government include a moratorium on evictions, and the artificial fixing of the exchange rates in 2011 to allow those who could pay off their debts with a single lump sum - usually borrowed from relatives - to do so.
Some 160,000 people took advantage of that scheme.
A state property-handling agency has also been established, to buy property from people who would otherwise have been evicted and their property auctioned by the banks.
The former owners are then allowed to continue living there, paying a low rent. The agency has already bought or is in the process of buying 11,400 homes.
Some debtors have also taken the banks to court for misleading them in the first place over foreign-currency loans, or for quietly changing the terms without consulting with the customers.
This week in the southern town of Pecs, Gyorgy Lehmann, a lawyer who is playing a prominent role in the "battle with the banks" won a landmark case.
The government has given the banks until the end of October to come up with a proposal to resolve the problem once and for all.
"The banks have been very, very slow to come to terms with the problem, and the strong regulatory tradition established in the UK and the US after 2008 has not yet been established in Hungary,' says Peter Rona a member of the supervisory board of the Hungarian National Bank.
"What I think the banks are now fearful of is that you are starting to see a series of court decisions which will create a particular trend that is highly inimical to their interests.
"Their ability to foreclose real estate - on the property that was used as collateral - is also being increasingly constrained, in part by court decisions," he says.
As a result, believes Mr Rona, the banks are interested in reaching a deal with the government.
The dispute is over how the burden should be distributed between the debtors, the banks, and the state.
Back in his new home, Janos says he has no regrets.
"Of course, we had fears before we came, but none of them have been realised. The whole family are glad we came here, to start a new life."


National League side Dover Athletic have signed winger James Caton.

The 23-year-old was released by fellow National League side Southport this week after joining the Merseyside club from Shrewsbury in August.
He scored two goals in 24 appearances for the Sandgrounders.
Caton began his career at Blackpool in 2012, before joining Shrewsbury in 2014, and has had loan spells at several clubs including Lincoln, Wrexham and Accrington.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


A bus driver has been banned from the road for two years after his vehicle was left hanging over the side of a river bank.

Colin Hill, 61, was behind the wheel of the single-decker bus when it crashed through a wall and railings in Jedburgh on 13 October last year.
It came to a stop with its front wheels hanging over the Jed Water.
At Jedburgh Sheriff Court, Hill, of Hawick, admitted a charge of dangerous driving and he was fined Â£300.
The court was told that Hill could not explain how the incident happened.
He admitted failing to control the bus by driving at excessive speed for the conditions and road lay-out.
He failed to give way to vehicles on the A68, before colliding with a car, railings, a wall and a road sign and driving over grassed area towards the Jed water.
The two passengers who were travelling on the bus escaped unhurt.
Hill has been told he will needed to sit the extended test after his two year ban in order to get his licence back.