File on 4 Investigates

From the harrowing 999 calls of people waiting for an ambulance to the paramedics stretched to breaking point, File on 4 goes on the frontline of the ambulance crisis.

Reporter: Rachel Stonehouse

Paul Kenyon investigates the ‘brain drain’ of doctors from developing countries to work in the UK. The large scale recruitment of foreign doctors from nations with the greatest need to retain their medical personnel is increasing on a massive scale. What’s more, thousands of doctors are being targeted despite guidance which says recruitment from developing countries should not happen. It is though - because the UK trains too few doctors and nurses and needs these staff to plug the gaps. There are also big concerns about how many of the doctors flown into the UK are expected to work extremely long hours which they say is putting patient safety at risk.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon

Leicester is one of the most diverse cities in England – often presented as a shining example multi-cultural Britain. But tensions between some factions have been brewing in the city for months and boiled over recently when there were violent clashes which led to dozens of arrests. File on 4 investigates why sections of the Muslim and Hindu communities that once lived together in harmony are now divided.

Reporter: Datshiane Navanayagam

There are concerns that British victims of trafficking are less likely than foreign nationals to receive Home Office support to escape exploitation.

Producer: Hayley Mortimer

It was to be one of the most ambitious just reform programmes in the world – a ‘common platform’ that would share information between the courts, lawyers and police, from arrest to court. But the quarter-of-a-billion pound IT project now stands accused of causing wrongful arrests and unlawful detentions. File on 4 has spoken with whistle-blowers from within the court service who say the system is unsafe, unfinished and beset with bugs, errors and glitches. Sources say early warnings were ignored and worry that the software continues to be rolled out to courts across England and Wales despite serious concerns about the risk it poses.

Producer: Ben Robinson

The massage industry has bounced back since covid, but File on 4 investigates the darker side of this industry. Hannah Price speaks to women who were sexually assaulted by massage therapists. In some cases, the therapist went on to assault other women even after they’d been arrested.

The programme reveals how the industry is largely unregulated - with no licensing of practitioners. It means anyone, even without qualifications or with a criminal conviction, could practice as a massage therapist.

Sexual assault victims and professional bodies in the sector are calling for more regulation to be introduced to protect both clients and therapists from sexual violence and harm.

Reporter: Hannah Price

In March 2022, File on 4 told the stories of six people whose lives were changed forever by war in Ukraine.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon

Last month an independent children’s social care review concluded that providing care for children in residential homes 'should not be based on profit'. The government response was that they have no any objection to profit being made as long as standards of care are properly regulated.

But is there a difference in the standard of care between ‘for profit’ and ‘not-for-profit’ children’s homes? With exclusive access to new data from the regulator Ofsted, reporter Tom Wall investigates the companies that are making huge profits from the children’s homes to ask whether there is shortfall in care and whether the reforms suggested are necessary.

Tom also talks to care leavers and children who have experienced life in homes where profit is a priority.

This epsiode of File on 4 is a repeat of the programme first broadcast on Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Reporter: Tom Wall

Around 800,000 people have dementia in the UK. For those suffering from the illness, incontinence can often be seen an inevitable consequence - but that’s not always the case. Deemed as too embarrassing or taboo, it’s a topic that rarely hits the spotlight. Experts say preserving someone’s ability to go to the toilet is crucial to maintaining their dignity and quality of life and should be a priority in care settings. But is that always happening? A new report shown exclusively to File on 4 has looked at how continence care is being managed in hospitals – and how, in some cases, those who are continent are actively encouraged to soil themselves. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to families who say their loved ones were ignored when it came to their continence needs in hospital and that the consequences have left them with health issues and requiring additional support. Nurses and medical staff say that continence training is often seen as a ‘Cinderella subject’. We also hear from dementia patients themselves about why maintaining your own dignity and independence is so crucial with this disease. With the government set to reveal a new dementia strategy this year, will continence care be placed higher up the agenda?

Reporter: Datshiane Navanayagam

With exclusive access to research – the first of its kind – reporter Livvy Haydock investigates what could be the most common form of sexual abuse that happens within families: sibling sexual abuse.

She speaks to families struggling to get help for this distressing form of abuse and those struggling to come to terms with a child harming another child – and fighting to repair their family.

As she will find out, a lack of official data makes it difficult to know for sure the true scale of the problem but some experts suggest 1.3 million people in the UK may have been affected by it.

And she will ask if a reluctance to accept what’s going on in front of us, could mean that when people look for help, often, it’s not there.

This is a story about sexual abuse at the very heart of the family; a story that may challenge what you think you know about the risk children may face in our homes.

Reporter: Livvy Haydock