5 Live Investigates

Firefighters are being delayed in getting to emergencies because of a computerised dispatching system which regularly crashes and often fails to send the closest fire engine. The system, which is called VISION DS and supplied by the technology company Capita, is used by the UK's busiest fire brigade - London Fire Service, as well as brigades in the South West - Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue, Devon and Somerset and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. Responding to a Freedom of Information request, London Fire Service has told 5 live Investigates that the system crashed 7 times in 2016 and they logged 195 separate problems. In the South West the system crashed 10 times in 2016 and - in some cases - it was down for several hours. One control room operator has told the programme that when the system has gone down, staff have resorted to using AtoZ maps to identify the nearest fire station to an incident.The system failures are putting lives at risk according to the Fire Brigades Union. No deaths are known to be attributable to the system. Capita says there have been 'very occasional problems.' London Fire Brigade says all the issues raised are being dealt with by the Brigade and Capita.

Prescriptions for antidepressants in England have gone up 7 per cent in the year to September 2016 according to figures seen by 5 live Investigates. 63 and a half million prescriptions were issued for the drugs - up four million on the year before and double the number a decade ago. The evidence shows that users are taking them for longer too. One in four people is now using them for 15 months. 20 years ago that was just eight months. There are also concerns that people are having to wait longer to access 'talking therapies' which can be used as well as or instead of antidepressants. The Department of Health says there's no evidence to suggest the rise in use of antidepressant medicines is linked to waiting times in talking therapies.They say they're exceeding the waiting times standard for this kind of treatment with almost 90% of people seen within 6 weeks.

The NSPCC is calling for an investigation into doorstep charity bag collections after evidence emerged that rogue operators are routinely flouting the law. Millions of pounds are raised each year for charity by private companies who post plastic bags through householders' doors and take away donated items. But 5 Live Investigates has discovered that some firms are illegally collecting without a licence. Others hand over only a fraction of the money they generate - sometimes less than 10 per cent. The Fundraising Regulator says it is looking at tightening up regulations in the sector.

Delays in social care assessments are contributing to a bed blocking crisis in our hospitals. The delays are also contributing to a crisis in the community where people with urgent social care needs aren't being seen according to the watchdog Healthwatch.

Referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) from the sport and recreation sector have increased nearly four-fold in the last four years. In 2012-2013, the number of referrals was 88. In 2015-2016, they had risen to 339 - up 285 per cent. The DBS was unable to say how many of the referrals led to people working in sport and recreation being barred from working with children. A spokesman for the DBS said the protection of children and vulnerable groups was of paramount importance. The figures were released following a BBC Radio 5 live Investigates Freedom of Information request to the DBS after hundreds of victims came forward last year to allege historical abuse in football.

Figures obtained by 5 live Investigates show that the number of ambulance call-outs to prisons in England has increased by nearly 40 per cent in the last three years - with an ambulance being called on average every 45 minutes. 2016 saw the worst disorder in British prisons for two decades. Critics blame overcrowding and staff cuts for an increase in violence between inmates, drug overdoses and suicide attempts. That's leading to more 999 calls - and increased demand for ambulances to ferry sick and injured offenders - and prison officers - to hospital. Justice Secretary Liz Truss has promised to spend £1.4 billion on new prisons and says she'll provide an extra 2,000 prison officers.

Hundreds of NHS patients and staff have been referred to the government's controversial counter-terrorism scheme Prevent.

Since July last year public sector employees like social workers, teachers and NHS staff - have been required to identify those individuals deemed at risk of being drawn into terrorism. 5 live Investigates can reveal for the first time that 420 NHS staff and patients have been referred to Prevent since the new rules came in. That's up from just 64 referrals the year before. Critics say the Prevent strategy has made public sector workers over-zealous and innocent people are being caught up in a climate of suspicion. Not only that, but there may be people with genuine mental health problems who are being deterred from seeking help because they're worried they'll be reported.

Simon Rickards says he will die if he doesn't get treatment for anorexia. He's been on an urgent referral list for an in-patient bed for nearly ten weeks. He says specialist hospital care could save his life. He contacted 5 live Investigates when the programme told the story of 19-year-old Fiona Hollings who is having to be treated for an eating disorder in Glasgow - 400 miles from her family home. She's one of many who've been left isolated from friends and family because of an acute shortage of beds. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder - and after exposing the huge problems women face getting the help they need to combat eating disorders, the programme reveals that men have an even tougher battle.

Fire brigade response times in many parts of England and Wales are getting slower according to data obtained by 5 live Investigates through a Freedom of Information request. Critics say that a reduction in the number of firefighters, appliances and fire stations are now putting lives at risk. Deborah Gibbons says her father Bernard Lewis, 82, may have still been alive a second appliance had reached their burning cottage on the the Wirral on Merseyside sooner.

A dangerous paedophile was allowed to re-offend because of a backlog in police investigating digital evidence. 38-year old Andrew Williams, a research assistant at Sheffield University, targeted a 13 year old girl and groomed her online. He never met her - but the girl's mother reported her fears to Greater Manchester Police. But it took them 10 months to investigate the teenager's laptop and mobile phone - and when they finally did, they said they couldn't get the phone to work and dropped the case for lack of evidence. It was only when 5 live Investigates got involved that the investigation was re-opened. However, the delays meant he was free to befriend another under-age girl on the internet who he went on to groom and abuse.