WRN report on sex attacks in hospitals

Why hyperbolic black and white extremes? Which is obviously unhelpful and not a rational way to think about good basic patient care.

If you state your preference for a same sex hcp then that will be taken into account. HCPs are trained in diversity/trauma/all the rest of it, and their main aim will be (if they have the capacity to do the job) the comfort and best interests of the patient in front of them.

This may involve explaining for example that no same sex member of staff is available to do this right now, but the staff will do their best to arrange this, with the wait being the patient's part to play in compromise

Or: there is not a same sex member of staff trained for this/ we do not have a same sex member of staff available in the time frame you need, so how can we do this in a way that you may feel more comfortable with? What adaptations might help?

This is basic, basic stuff!

And the niggling and angels dancing on heads of pins nonsense is almost always about trying to get women to surrender to men going wherever they want. And fuck that, to put it bluntly.

Pixiedust1234
More than 5,500 alleged sex crimes in UK schools were reported to police in the last three years, BBC figures show.

The crime recording standards changed during this time too

So now if a victim says they are a victim of a crime it gets recorded regardless of its outcome. Previously it could be 'not crimed' if it could be shown it has't happened.

Now you need overwhelming evidence to show a crime has not happened to not record it as a crime.

The dates were before the pandemic.

Tiny, OMG, and you can just imagine how hard it would be for a girl to report - and I’m guessing this is reported incidents only….

KalimbaMoon

Its not that we don't care - its a huge topic as to why the conviction rate is low

Partly due to difficulties in proving these offences beyond reasonable doubt, some victims don't want to proceed the case to court etc etc

Its not that we don't care - i have the upmost respect for victims/survivors of these crimes and their decisions that they make - and i do not think its right to put any pressure on them to proceed a case to court if they don't want to.

I thought Felix was responding to the suggestion for single-sex wards not intimate care? I hope we all recognise that single-sex healthcare providers absolutely should be available for intimate procedures, or for patients where that is needed.
I’m not sure how possible it would be to staff wards entirely by sex and still have access to all the skills and manpower flexibility needed? I’m not sure it would then be desirable to enforce single-sex visitors.
I do completely agree that wards should be single-sex for patients, and that that should happen as soon as possible

More than 5,500 alleged sex crimes in UK schools were reported to police in the last three years, BBC figures show.

Werent schools predominantly closed or carefully segregated for two of those years due to covid restrictions which would mean the majority were from the third year...when girls only toilets and changing rooms were made "inclusive"?

I feel so sick reading this.

Have any of the hospitals publicly stated what they have done to stop it happening again or just ignored it and left it to the police?

There’s at least one rape a day in schools too. Which is why mixed sex toilets with full height doors must be stopped.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34138287

I felt sick reading this, what an absolute scandal. Heartbreaking too for all those victims who have been denied justice. The one place they should have felt safe. Think of all the CCTV they have in hospitals, it beggars belief that these crimes have only resulted in a tiny percentage of prosecutions. Maybe the police just don’t care.

I agree - there should be more transparent to - to show the outcomes of the various enquiries. Why crimes were not detected or resulted in a charge. Why a court case has not resulted in a conviction

Abso-fucking-luetely.

One thing I've said on MN many time is that when people talk about things or produce data, you should look for the ommisions and the lack of data because they are more important and more significant than the things that you know or the things that are said.

This is a bloody good example of that.

nilsmousehammer

I agree - as a male patient of various procedures, vasectomies etc - I had no say in it at all - and it was an all female team that did both procedures.

Perhaps you could look at single sex hospitals for both staff & patients

It's in The Telegraph anyone got a share token?https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/17/thousands-of-hospital-sex-attacks-reported-to-police-figure/?s=08

Some screenshots from the report.

In the situation that this care is not acceptable to the female patient, it doesn't matter how brilliant the male doctor is.

It's not a blanket thing: it's about intimate care and recognising that sometimes people have a genuine need for same sex care for specific procedures. The alternative of telling a patient 'deal with this person intimately handling you or go without care' is not care, it's inhuman.

I suspect there will be massive discrepancies between residential care facilities, mental health facilities and mixed sex facilities compared to a normal ward on a hospital.

I also think there will be interesting figures relating to hcp providers / patients.

No one is interested though because there is no collection of data on this. It's not considered an issue worthy of looking at.

That's the hallmark of vulnerability - absence and lack of recording of data.

Thanks for posting Arabella.
Thank you aweegc for sharig your experience so courageously and so sorry that all happened to you.
Brava to WRN.
Beyond that I'm speechless, it's so shocking.

But you then have the problem that the doctors & nurses have to be the same sex as the patient.

So you might have a really brilliant male doctor who is prevented from providing care to a female patient.

There needs to be better data and the only possible reason for not having better data is a lack of caring about women's human rights.

Not collecting data is something governments do when they know there is a problem but they don't want there to be any decent evidence about that problem.

However, what there is shows a significant problem exists - this problem could be immediately reduced by providing single sex wards and spaces in hospitals. Immediately, overnight, with minimal cost implications. It's insane politicians aren't going for this quick win and shows how little women's safety matters.

RoseslnTheHospital
I'm not saying that at all - I am saying that you have to take this into consideration. And the victims i have dealt with for this are both men & women

I say again that if you have been a victim of this you have my complete sympathy and need as much support as possible.

Recordings and outcomes by police forces should be more open and safety in hospitals should be paramount.

Time for the police to be compelled into recording some actually useable data about sexual assaults and rape. I am sick to death of the shrugging and lack of interest in this, and the assumption of some people that the issue is actually with women lying rather than men assaulting.

Congratulations to the women of the WRN for carrying all this out. It's scandalous.

I have an outlying family member whose daughter is a nurse in Cornwall. She has talked of the chaos of Covid, during which a strange man, dressed in scrubs and mask, walked into her hospital and was caught loitering on a women's ward with mainly older and some confused patients. He escaped before the police arrived and was impossible to identify.