File on 4 Investigates - The battle for hearts and lungs: Transplants in trouble.

Download The battle for hearts and lungs: Transplants in trouble.

The UK was once a world leader in heart and lung transplantation. Pioneering surgeons attracted patients from all over the world. But the NHS has not kept pace with medical and technological developments and today the UK lags far behind most similar countries. It carries out fewer transplants and a lack of resources mean it doesn’t routinely use modern technologies. Many of the health service’s leading surgeons have left to work overseas in recent years, frustrated, they say, at the lack of attention transplant services have received from NHS England.

Through speaking to patients, surgeons and experts, File on Four Investigates looks at what the UK needs to do to update and transform this life-changing service.

Reporter Michael Buchanan
Producers: Adam Eley & Paul Grant
Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards
Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Tara McDermott

Published on Tuesday, 24th March 2026.

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