In the first of a new series, File on 4 asks whether recent stark warnings about the threat posed by growing resistance to antibiotics have come too late.
The Chief Medical Officer of England, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has painted an apocalyptic picture where routine operations could become deadly in just 20 years if we lose the ability to fight infection.
But the programme discovers growing concern among doctors that bugs found in our hospitals have already developed the ability to withstand drugs which are effectively the last line of defence.
Has the Government drive to eradicate MRSA and C-Difficile left the back door open for more challenging strains of superbug to take hold? Does the health service know why numbers of healthcare infections of E. Coli are rising? And where are the new medicines to tackle the resistant strains? The programme hears there's little incentive for drug companies to produce new antibiotics because they won't be able to make enough money.
Allan Urry meets the medics on the front line in the battle to stop infection killing patients. Can the NHS win the war against the microbes?Producer: Paul Grant.
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File on 4 Investigates Folgen
News-making original journalism documentary series, investigating stories at home and abroad.
Folgen von File on 4 Investigates
484 Folgen
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Folge vom 21.05.2013Superbugs
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Folge vom 26.03.2013Rochdale Abuse: Failed Victims?The high profile child sex abuse case in Rochdale last summer - in which nine men were jailed for more than 70 years for grooming underage girls - has been defined as a watershed moment in how the authorities deal with this kind of abuse. But were there crucial failings? In an exclusive interview for File on 4, one of the police officers involved in the case claims that flaws in the way it was handled meant important witness evidence was dropped and some abusers were never prosecuted - leaving a new generation of girls potentially at risk and victims seriously let down. Jane Deith also hears complaints that witnesses were left without adequate support to help them re-build their lives. Earlier this month the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, published new guidelines for police and prosecutors in such cases. But have they come too late for many victims?Producer: Sally Chesworth Reporter: Jane Deith.
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Folge vom 19.03.2013Dangerous Hospitals?In the wake of the Mid-Staffordshire hospital scandal, investigations are going on at 14 other hospitals in England identified as having above average death rates among their patients. But why has it taken so long for enquiries to begin? Should the Department of Health and the hospitals regulator, the Care Quality Commission, have sounded the alarm much earlier?It took a lengthy public inquiry to get to the bottom of failings in Mid-Staffordshire. Complaints of dangerous clinical practice and shoddy nursing standards were overlooked while whistle-blowers were treated as mere troublemakers and threatened with reprisals if they went public with their concerns.Evidence is now emerging of a similar pattern in other places.Gerry Northam examines the list of hospitals now under investigation and hears from doctors, nurses, patients and bereaved relatives. Have NHS managers done enough to address concern about high death rates?How could it happen that the hospital reported to have the highest rate of excess mortality in the country - 20% above the expected level for its population of patients - was given a full seal of approval only three months earlier by the official regulator?Producer: Rob Cave Reporter: Gerry Northam.
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Folge vom 12.03.2013Mali: Europe's Terror ThreatThe French authorities acknowledge their intervention in Mali has made them terrorist target number one. In recent weeks, the country has raised its threat level - with high visibility police patrols at tourist destinations and government buildings - and a number of people suspected of planning to join Islamic extremists in Mali have been arrested.Jenny Cuffe examines concerns in France both about the rise of Islamist extremism and the tough action the authorities are taking in response. Last October, police uncovered bomb making equipment following a grenade attack on a Jewish butchers in Paris. Eight months earlier, extremist Mohamed Merah killed three soldiers and a rabbi and three children outside a Jewish school in Toulouse. Meanwhile more than 100 imams deemed to be dangerous have been deported in the last ten years and several more are currently under threat of being expelled.The programme also examines the threat to the UK. Jihadist groups in North Africa have warned that they will target supporters of the French action in Mali. The British Government is currently seeking to deport a number of Algerian terror suspects and authorities are also investigating reports that a British man has been arrested trying to make his way to join jihadists fighting in Mali.Presenter: Jenny Cuffe Producer: Paul Grant.