There are multiple ways you could approach this problem and the best solution would heavily depend on how you define 'notes' and 'headline'. If you are consistently using styles then it could be coded relatively easily.

I would probably do this as a multi-step process.
1. Remove all tables using Graham's suggestion
2. Remove all empty paragraphs (if there are any)
3. Step through each 'headline' and delete it if it is followed by another 'headline'

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia