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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Profiteering from rape

9 replies

imbookingthetrain · 15/03/2024 10:39

www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/13/uk-private-equity-firms-sexual-assault-referral-centres

I know this area of healthcare well. About time someone took a look at what is going on. There is a lot more than just the profiteering though.

Private, profit making companies have no business being anywhere near this kind of work.

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pronounsbundlebundle · 15/03/2024 10:41

Private, profit-making companies have no business being anywhere near lots of things in our society that need fixing, and are the cause of a lot of harm in areas that should be not for profit.

Thank you for posting this.

RethinkingLife · 15/03/2024 13:09

Looking at healthcare in the US (and setting aside private equity and hospitals in the UK), private equity is there to stripmine you and then to start charging you for the air that you breathe. (Yes, I am spectacularly grumpy today.)

If you put the following into your preferred search engine you'll see some humorous but very on point videos about the reality of private equity from a practising US physician who wants to practise evidence-based medicine.

glaucomflecken private equity

https://www.google.com/search?q=glaucomflecken+private+equity

https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/when-private-equity-takes-over-a-nursing-home

James Kirkup and others are strongly critical of the impact of private equity on the standard of childcare units in the UK.

When Private Equity Takes Over a Nursing Home

After an investment firm bought St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged, in Richmond, Virginia, the company reduced staff, removed amenities, and set the stage for a deadly outbreak of COVID-19.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/when-private-equity-takes-over-a-nursing-home

imbookingthetrain · 15/03/2024 18:30

the whole private equity situation in healthcare is frightening but when it seeps into the care of sexual assault victims it's especially abhorrent.

commissioning is based on numbers, numbers need to be demonstrated by the companies accepting millions of public money. providers need to show their numbers to demonstrate success and keep the lucrative contracts.

traumatised victims get lost in this bean counting. Their wishes, what is right for them,
not CJS outcomes, the realistic prospect of engaging with a forensic examination v's finding a way to live their lives are all lost to the numbers.

the very few services like this still in the NHS do not have the trickle down pressures to prove their worth for the contracts in the same way and have much more freedom to act in best interests.

Children's SARC's outside the NHS are caught up in this too and that is terrifying.

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imbookingthetrain · 16/03/2024 14:47

i am fairly low key on this board but i'm surprised this hasn't caused more outrage!

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RethinkingLife · 16/03/2024 14:56

imbookingthetrain · 16/03/2024 14:47

i am fairly low key on this board but i'm surprised this hasn't caused more outrage!

For personal reasons, a number of FWR posters don't engage with threads about rape.

I don't know if it's the sort of thread that people look at but can't formulate a comment. It's not the same issue as the forensic examiner item in Scotland because the article engages substantially with the private equity aspect.

I feel helpless about the impact of private equity on healthcare. I agree that it's abhorrent that it's made such substantial inroads into the NHS and is appropriating so much of the available funding while there are no evaluations of the quality of support that is provided.

While government funding was going to Sarcs, Simon said many rape crisis centres, which are still not-for-profit, are on the brink of collapse and in need of more financial support. She asked: “Can any profit-driven service be trusted to work in the best interests of victims and survivors, or will they prioritise profit margins?”
David Rowland, the director of the Centre for Health and the Public Interest, said: “It is difficult to understand how a private equity investor could envisage making a profit out of providing services to people who have suffered sexual assault. Any money taken out of these services in the form of dividends is money which cannot be used to pay staff or to look after those affected.”

I consider this very concerning. I wonder how many of this private suppliers will offer single-sex settings or personalised care. I've no way of knowing.

PerkingFaintly · 16/03/2024 15:03

Thank you, @imbookingthetrain , I didn't know about this.

The previous major news I'd heard about private equity companies in health & social care was the collapse of Southern Cross because of asset-stripping by its private equity owners.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13630394

I realise I'm very out of date. Even within the care sector, Four Seasons has now run into similar problems.

https://fortune.com/europe/2022/09/27/uk-four-seasons-health-care-elder-care-private-equity/

The financial lessons of Southern Cross

The financial woes of care home operator Southern Cross raise questions about the role of private equity firms and the government's policies on care and health provision.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13630394

Terrribletwos · 16/03/2024 15:05

It's so unbelievable!
Shocked this is going on!!

PerkingFaintly · 16/03/2024 15:07

Not-for-profit rape-crisis centres on the brink of collapse, while government funds are channeled to a particularly rapacious form of profit-making company, in an area where quality is hard to evaluate...

It doesn't sound a recipe for good care.Sad

imbookingthetrain · 16/03/2024 17:26

@RethinkingLife that's a fair point that i hadn't considered even though i have my own personal lived experience. thank you for pointing that out.

i'm just so outraged mainly because i used to work in a clinical capacity for one of the companies named. i know how the profit driven focus means people are often on a conveyor belt and how persuading victims to agree to an intimate examination = successful outcome and a tick in the bean counting box which feeds into success with commissioners. there's some great, caring practitioners but they are under pressure to turn appointments around quickly and prioritise forensics over trauma informed care.

so few rapes and serious sexual offences result in a charge and even less (in fact a tiny number) rely on the forensic findings for court due to overwhelming numbers of known perpetrators that the focus is all wrong.

they all talk the talk about how caring and supportive and choice driven the services are but in reality they aren't.

just look at the company reviews on Glassdoor...

i would love to know how this initial guardian piece can be a catalyst for a deeper dive into SARCs and what really goes on.

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