Serious life ending Sexual assault on a stroke ward

Yeah

And nobody saw anything or noticed anything unusual

This is unlikely to have been the first or the last offence for the rapist. I reckon the police could have looked harder.

If you read the article there are links to previous “incidents” on this ward, with the same ward manager involved, and found guilty. Clearly there has been longstanding appalling practice going on, whether this was a historic cover up by management or something that slipped past the safeguarding process needs to be investigated.

Very telling that previous incidents were reported by a student attached to the ward who was brave enough, and morally strong enough, to whistleblow. I hope that the student was supported and has stayed on their course, but I suspect that they will be viewed with suspicion by many HCP and could well have found the situation untenable.

Having followed the Fife case it is clear that some hospital managers are not fit for purpose, so nothing is off the books as far as mismanagement is concerned.

And this happened seven years ago so they may well have been doing this to other patients ever since, with no opportunity taken back in 2018 to stop them.

Horrific, but it is probably an example of Halon's razor. "Never ascribe to malice what can be explained through incompetence". I've worked in both general and psychiatric hospitals, and I believe the staff would be happy to dob each other in if they were clever enough to spot malpractice.

The whole thing - the fact the assault could occur, the fact that her death wasn’t immediately investigated due to the blood etc …. There are no words adequate to describe it.

Sums it up doesn't it.

So, let me get this straight, because I'm really struggling here, a violent rapist and sexual abuser can gain access to vulnerable patients in hospital - more than likely works at the hospital - and no one can be arsed to find out who did it!?

How absolutely horrific, devastating for her family

I think there's a very toxic culture in the NHS which results both in understaffing, cover up of understaffing and a climate of fear where staff feel scared to report any problems or wrongdoing. With a very few bullies getting very rich. It needs total reform.

Good point @whatwouldafeministdo !

All the genderwoo has created a hostile environment for safe guarding. This case needs mire general publicity and discussion.

It made me feel physically sick reading this.

It reads that blood loss may have not been noticed due to clotting. I guess saying clotting caused blood to remain within the body. But surely the medication given after a stroke would inhibit clotting?
I don’t think it’s a cover up as such but a complete lack of care, particularly by the qualified staff.
This murderous attack was carried out by a very violent and sick individual. Probably walking the ward/hospital still. Almost certain he will attack again.

To a certain extent I have sympathy for staff, after all this nurse has been suspended for calling a convicted violent paedophile who used a racist slur against her 'mister'. They must be scared for their jobs if they speak up about predators. South London nurse takes legal action after NHS punished her for calling transgender paedophile ‘Mr’ | The Standard

The article says Valerie suffered blood loss after death, and it may not have been visible before due to clotting. It also says she showed no clinical signs blood loss- you’d expect BP, pulse etc to be affected.

the police were also called in “later that month” to investigate neglect and issues in the ward. That investigation then lead to Valerie. The body won’t have been forensically preserved initially. By the time the investigation was opened any evidence will have been long gone. So I don’t think we can blame the police and cps here.

to me this is a repeat of Lucy Letby. A failing ward, lack of proper care, fundamental infrastructure and staffing problems which led to deaths- including murder which is just horrific.

the investigation now needs to focus on how this was allowed to happen, and what the nhs needs to do to stop this ever happening again.

i worked in the nhs. Most cost saving measures are done by reducing staff. So not only are wards understaffed the staff are burned out. They simply can’t do any more, so again I think blaming staff is not the right path. They need to stop throwing money at new IT systems and SLT and seriously up the basic staffing levels.

This isn't just about NHS management or indeed the NHS. This is about patient facing staff not giving a shit. It's about a vulnerable woman being raped and dying. It's about a broken system where even in death Valerie is being failed. It's about a family having to deal with this. It's about a rapist not having to answer for what he has done.

Yes, it won't be an isolated case. Agree, the staff need to face consequences.

It reminds me of the case of the rape of a woman on a woman's ward that the NHS denied for a year because it was a 'woman's' ward and 'no men were present'. At least in that case both witness and CCTV revealed a man had in fact been present.

The lies and cover up for predators needs to stop, but it seems honestly baked into the NHS. They're really shit at recording or following up on sexual assaults, the true numbers are probably horrific.

This is horrific. That poor poor woman, I simply cannot see how this happened and nobody noticed, in fact I refuse to believe they didn’t

Why was (is) this not all over the press? Life is cheap it seems

It's a cover up on all levels. It makes me feel sick to the core.

Agree, nothing in this makes any sense. It's appalling. And the fact the perpetrator hasn't been found- or really looked for - is terrifying.

This needs a big noise making about this but I fear it's too late 7 years on for anything helpful to be done. Everyone will just walk away with no consequences.

Another major hospital fuck up that will be covered up then

Public should have been made aware. I would not have wanted my loved ones ‘cared’ for in that place knowing this.

Just read the article, so awful, and it sounds likely a staff member assaulted her and then downplayed the amount of blood when she had died 😔

This is so appalling - this poor lady. I can't imagine the family's pain. I can't understand how this has been kept so quiet either. We're 7 years on since it happened! How has the rape and murder of a patient in hospital not been reported everywhere?

Yes, I’ve just ASd to find it; I’d correctly remembered who’d written it - one of the usual shitposters.