Along with Free care at Certain Hospitals in England Some Will Get Raped, All Included
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| A nurse cares for a premature baby at a National Health Service neonatal unit. The police have received thousands of reports of alleged sexual assault that took place at British hospitals. (Hannah McKay/Bloomberg) |
Washington Post
There have been more than 6,500 reports of sexual assault and rape that allegedly took place within hospitals in England and Wales since 2019, data obtained through Freedom of Information requests from a women’s rights organization showed, in the latest challenge facing the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.
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The Women’s Rights Network released its report last week, with founder Heather Binning calling the statistics “jaw-dropping.”
“We began this investigation because a number of members raised concerns about the safety of women and children on NHS wards, but we are horrified at what we have uncovered,” she said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in Parliament he was “deeply shocked and appalled” at the numbers. “NHS organizations are responsible for protecting their staff and patients,” he said, adding they have “recently established a domestic abuse and sexual violence program to build more robust safeguarding.”
There were 2,088 reports of rape and 4,451 reports of sexual assaults made to 35 police forces, according to the WRN, which sent requests to 43 forces in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Eight forces, including those in Scotland and Northern Ireland, did not supply data.
Only 4 percent of the reports are known to have resulted in charges, the WRN said.
The Department of Health is expected to run body camera trials in coordination with the NHS to prevent violence against staff, including through body camera trials.
The report came at a tense time for the NHS, which has seen ongoing strikes by nurses and junior doctors — among other public service workers — over recent months, driven by disputes over pay and working conditions.
U.K. nurses, struggling to pay bills, say strike is for the future of healthcare
Inflation in Britain peaked at 11.1 percent in October, the highest in four decades, and has remained in the double digits.
The Royal College of Nursing, the nurses’ union, voted on April 14 to reject an offer of a 5 percent increase from April, plus a one-off lump sum for 2022-23. “Until there is a significantly improved offer, we are forced back to the picket line,” the union’s general secretary, Pat Cullen, said.
Barclay said the offer was “fair and reasonable.”
The second day of a planned 48-hour nurses' strike from April 30 to May 2 will be challenged in the High Court, Barclay said, set to take place Thursday. The second day of the strike would not be lawful and he was acting on a request from NHS employers, he said. He previously said that “strike action with no national exemptions agreed, including for emergency and cancer care, will also put patient safety at risk.”
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Paramedics in Britain began wearing cameras in 2021, in an effort to address rising cases of assaults against them while on the job. The cameras have also been trialed in mental health wards.
The RCN’s latest stated position on body cameras, from August, was that it “acknowledges that the views of healthcare professionals and members on the use of body-worn cameras in health and care settings are diverse and recognizes that there is limited evidence on their effectiveness and acceptability by both patients and staff.”
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