Another NHS Trust perverts the course of justice in relation to a rape case.

[MrsOvertonsWindow]

The Times report that staff at yet another NHS Trust have deliberately obstructed a police investigation into the rape of a mentally unwell young woman thinking she was a man and placed on a male mental health ward,

There are so many shocking aspects of this case, especially that the wrong man standing trial. What what stands out is that this was the result of the open refusal of staff to co operate with the police - including accidentally forwarding an internal email to the police stating "don't give them any more".

"South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust said its decision to allow the victim onto the ward was in line with NHS England policy at the time. The trust apologised to police and the court over its failure to share information"

I note there's no mention of any member of staff being sanctioned for their behaviour. I suppose for Trusts who are used to ignoring / breaching the law of the land, perverting the course of justice is a minor matter.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/nhs-thwarted-inquiry-rape-trans-patient-male-ward-ph266nnrk

archive link:

archive.ph/rh9kF

As with the police and institutional racism. The NHS is riddled with institutional misogyny. Vicious misogyny. Wtf goes on between the ears of someone who puts a vulnerable, unwell women in this kind of danger?

causing a person to be arrested or to fall under suspicion is first on the list

The NHS have covered four more on that list Henrietta, there absolutely has to be a prosecution in this case, let's see if the Police, CPS, Health Secretary are going to call for one.

Having to read the policies one after another, I began to feel rather ill. The misogyny dripped off the page - it was horrible. I'm usually as sort of battle-axe kind of character but one morning I ended up bursting into tears having had to absorb it all. And I don't even work in the NHS?! It was ridiculous but I just couldn't get over how much they must hate women to write all this crap down

This!
South London and Maudsley is the NHS Trust - SLAM for short.
Their policies were some of the worst I read across the whole of the UK

Here is the link for the historic policies (which will apply to this horrible case) if anyone is interested:
www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/gender_reassignment_andor_transg_67#incoming-2669171

Let’s be clear - this is some staff
Not all - many are unhappy but fearful for their jobs so keep quiet. It’s a horrible culture and not one that suggests staff are well placed to care for anyone - you can’t give what you’re not getting springs to mind…

He's too busy laughingly telling NHSE and DHSC colleagues that his favourite film is Clueless.

It's just horrible. Skimming through the policy Knotty linked to (first item: definition of 'cis' 🙄), this misogynistic shite is our tax dollars at work, as the Americans say? When the NHS is already on its knees?

The whole nhs is corrupt. By those at the top. And the middle trying to get to the top.

Having worked on NHS psych wards in the 90’s and 2000’s, the idea that “ We were following NHS policy" could ever be used to justify placing a biological female in a male only psych ward is absurd, seeing as staff members face the risk of being attacked never mind other patients. As a female staff member, I at least had the advantage of training and an alarm . We also used to separate by sex because a biological woman( or man) needing admission may be sexually disinhibited or classed as unable to consent due to their vulnerability , even if the man was presuming it to be a consensual situation , so it protects both men and women in that situation. CQC report from 2018 https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/major-report/sexual-safety-mental-health-wards . And in 2024 https://rapecrisis.org.uk/news/alarming-scale-of-sexual-violence-and-abuse-on-mental-health-wards/

This is horrific. Talk about the loonies taking over the asylum. This will never happen they said. No safeguarding anywhere and then lies and coverups. Shameful.

I sincerely hope all staff complicit in this girls rape are prosecuted.

It is clear from the 'Care and Support of Transgender and Non Binary People' document that, firstly, they absolutely knew that they were posing a danger to women and, secondly, that they felt they had legal approval from the Trust's solicitors for their policy.

Given the discussions about culture in the NHS, this other article from the Times suggests there's a problem with "claims for sexual abuse against patients and colleagues, ranging from inappropriate touching to kissing and rape, have risen by 72 per cent over the past decade"

There are numerous examples of medics returning to work despite proven allegations of rape, voyeurism and incidents of sexual abuse. All suggesting that the culture of the NHS is not only failing to protect patients & staff from predators, but the system is actually enabling them.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/doctors-hundreds-nhs-staff-accused-abuse-9cs2zskx2

https://archive.ph/WzM08

I so hope some investigative journalist picks up on this, though I don’t hold out much of said hope.

Shame. Shame on any so called medical professional who lacks the moral backbone or integrity to take a stand where a patient is being endangered. There’s strength in numbers - if enough staff have the courage and decency to speak up things may change.

Because no matter what the issue, it’s vital to hear what men who pretend to be women have to say. Didn’t you know? 🙄😡

Tbf nobody should be getting raped in hospitals anyway. Even on a mixed sex ward. But I do think all the trans stuff is bonkers and healthcare is one of the areas where biological sex matters the most.

Indeed. Presumably the BBC are on the line to their favourite drag queens before publishing anything about this.

They’re clearly not answering their phones, because it’s not anywhere to be found on the BBC website yet.

I’ve started a thread in AIBU, nicked the links in this OP, apologies.

Note that on some of its news bulletins two days ago, the BBC was putting the story about women who took part in MAFS being raped.

I'd say this story is at least as serious as that, with wider ramifications. Staff at an NHS Hospital knowingly put a woman on a ward with dangerous men. It wasn't even a mistake - it was policy. They actively undermined police attempts to investigate it. This scandal goes way beyond the individual staff member or members who let the woman into the ward - it involves the people who wrote the policy and the management who signed it off, it involves the wider NHS bodies that authorised these types of policy and it involves anyone at the trust who actively sabotaged a police investigation to the extent that an innocent man was nearly sent to prison.

This ought to be a massive scandal at the top of every news bulletin. It ought to damage the NHS in the same way that the Savile scandal damaged the BBC.

And yet here we are, and so far I've seen one report of the story in the media, and that was in the Times.

This ought to be a massive scandal at the top of every news bulletin. It ought to damage the NHS in the same way that the Savile scandal damaged the BBC.

Yes it should. It amazes me how serious news gets buried so easily by our mainstream media. Is it too embarrassing for the BBC to concede that GC were right from the very beginning about single sex spaces. Being told you're just transphobic for pointing out the obvious safeguarding risks.

Is it any wonder the younger generation have turned to tiktok for current news.

There is often a near sadistic glee at righteously sacrificing women to this political batshit. There is something seriously wrong with people stuck in this mindset; however protective you might feel about this small group of men, there are many ways to meet needs. It is wholly unnecessary to intentionally set out to harm women in the process. Unless this was part of the desire in the first place.

Less 'right side of history' than 'sociopath'.

This just about beggars belief, from the stupid, stupid policy of pretending that FTM patients are actually men, to the ideological idiots insisting on not using common sense, right through to the systematic obstruction of the Police investigation.

The poor victim, she was unwell enough to be sectioned and was thrown to the wolves by those whose responsibility it was to keep her safe. Instead of stabilising her mental health, they chose to ruin it.

It's absolutely rotten, through and through. I certainly agree that there needs to be prosecutions here and a huge rocket put up the collective NHS arse.

What on Earth made them think that putting a small, slightly built woman in a ward with violent sex offenders would not end very badly?

There is simply NO excuse.

And, yet, Southampton Spygate has been top story on Sky UK News for over 24 hours now

https://news.sky.com/story/spygate-latest-southampton-kicked-out-of-championship-play-off-final-13545917

Apparently, more than by-elections, HS2 fiasco, and the "small" matter of an NHS Trust covering up a rape that they enabled, THIS is what's most important in the country today, people!