Serious life ending Sexual assault on a stroke ward

This should be front page news. It's utterly appalling. We are not safe, anywhere!

Agree completely. The whole situation points to a complete lack of adequate standard of care and is exceptionally concerning more generally, as well as being utterly horrific. I honestly don't know what I would do had this been my lovely Mum.

And what about all the incompetent and overpaid NHS managers that work at the hospital/stroke unit? What exactly are they managing?! Outrageous! NHS is not fit for purpose.

I have no words.

My mummy has just been in hospital, if that happened to her I don’t know how I could ever get over it - my heart goes out to her family.

Truly awful! Shame on the police, NMC and Coroners Court for not investigating this properly! This is unlikely to be an isolated case, the perpetrator/s probably committed similar crimes before and are free to attack again. All staff who were on shift should be suspended until they speak the truth. Shocking and abhorrent!

I don't think it's insensitive as I was thinking exactly the same.

How did a woman on end of life care have such little care that nobody notice she was bleeding profusely?

That must mean nobody did any tooketinh care, no washing or cleaning, no adjusting her position or checking for any sores or pressure points. Either she was totally abandoned care wise or the only person checking her was responsible for the injuries.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-64865699

I remember reading this article and not grasping what a 'haemorrhage caused by a non-medical related internal injury' actually was. It wasn't stated for a long time in reports that she bled to death after a serious sexual assault whilst lying helpless in the stroke ward. I couldn't think what the injury was apart from maybe she had fallen and injured her spleen or something.

So even then the cause of the dreadful injury and the nature of the injury was downplayed, obscured.

Rest in peace, Valerie. I am so sorry you were failed by the very people who were supposed to care.

I know it seems really strange but it was flagged up after death but no one bothered to come and check. I’m not a medic but am thinking she probably looked like she suffered multiple haemorrhages so covered in bruises and had lost a lot of blood rectally.

I had a relative who died from pancreatic cancer who suffered with lots of blood loss in a similar way before death

I can hardly bear to read this report. This poor lady and her family have been failed so badly. It's unclear from the report whether the lady was on a ward or in a side room on the night when the incident took place. It beggars belief that nobody noticed anything untoward until it was too late to gather evidence. Inadequate staffing levels perhaps?

I think all the staff involved need to be charged with something to be honest.

This may be insensitive of me, but did no one provide any toileting care to this woman, during the time she was internally bleeding out? Surely if they had the blood would have been found. She appears to have had no physical contact with any care staff!

The police investigation should absolutely be reopened, with high priority, to prevent more deaths.

Someone got away with sexually assaulting and killing a patient in hospital. Very high likelihood that such an attacker has assaulted unconscious victims before and since, being a bit more careful about hiding the evidence.

Cold cases may be difficult, but everyone there at the time is under suspicion until this is solved.

I think the delay in anyone noticing meant the cctv was wiped. I know in my work that it just keeps a rolling 7 days. Which is generally long enough if anything needs reviewed. If anyone had checked due to HCAs mentioning smell / bleeding. Then I assume it’d of been flagged that it wasn’t a normal haemorrhage.

Poor woman. I don’t know if the incompetence is complicit or negligent.

What have I just read? This is so shocking I can’t get my head around it! Apart from the terrible sexual assault there is clear negligence on all sides, how is no one bearing any responsibility for this poor woman’s death! Her family must be besides themselves!

This is absolutely disgraceful, how could this have happened? So awful for Valerie and her family, they all deserved better.

I agree. I think we should all be writing.

If you do mind, would you share the gist of what you write? Maybe if we write in a similar vein, it would have more impact? As someone who's dad has had a stroke, and I've had/ going to have surgery, this really scares me. Some of the stuff I saw in my dad stroke ward was horrific and that's even with them knowing my DH is a consultant in the same hospital.

That's one of the most horrible things I've read for some time. Jesus Christ, the poor woman. I work in the NHS and it can be a brutalising system to work in but the complacency of those nurses is really something. I'm honestly stunned. I can't imagine how traumatised her family must be

It seems she was fine and chatting in the evening. Next morning she had deteriorated and put on end of life care. Did nobody notice what must have been a huge blood loss, which soaked the mattress? Did nobody question how it had come about?

This is absolutely shocking and disgusting. And even worse the bloody staff are trying to cover it up! What the hell is wrong with people?

This was really upsetting to read.

Any one of us or any of our female relatives could be Valerie should we suffer a stroke or other incapacitating medical condition. The poor woman was powerless and so vulnerable.

This happened in 2018. Why has the inquest taken so long? The police should be forced to reopen the investigation.

Do you remember the TRA plopper who was on here last week and accusing posters of "sexualising" care work when we said SSC is important to prevent patients from being assaulted.

I do...

I read that yesterday. I think it was worse. They weren't trying to cover up, they just didn't give a shit about what happened to this poor poor woman. No questions asked at all.

Heads should be rolling all over the place for this one