'Hospitals have almost become markets for sex offenders': Shocking figures reveal 6,500 attacks in hospitals in just three years... and only four percent end with someone being charged
Dozens of rapes and sexual assaults take place in hospitals every week, a damning report reveals today.
The official figures lay bare the horrific scale of abuse – with 6,500 attacks being reported in just three years.
They include gang rapes and assaults on children. The statistics are published today by the Women's Rights Network whose founder Heather Binning said they were 'just the tip of the iceberg'.
'Hospitals are places where everyone – patients, staff and visitors – should feel completely safe but rapes and violent assaults are taking place in hospitals every week,' she added.
'The figures show hospitals are just not safe places. They are almost a market for sexual offenders. It's absolutely terrifying.'
She said the sheer extent of the problem had echoes of the Jimmy Savile scandal and his abuse of patients at Stoke Mandeville.
The figures are based on freedom of information requests to police forces in England and Wales.
At least 2,088 rapes and 4,451 sexual assaults were reported between January 2019 and October 2022 – a rate of 33 a week. The data does not detail whether the offences were carried out at NHS or private facilities. But a shocking one in seven took place on hospital wards.
And just 4.1 per cent of the crimes resulted in the suspect facing a charge or summons.
Ms Binning claimed this 'added to the horror' and showed hospitals and police forces were failing to protect the vulnerable.
She said: 'The police are not doing enough in terms of recording the crimes properly and pursuing them – these are places with CCTV and restricted access. Why is the charge rate so low?'
Her WRN group is calling on the NHS, the Care Quality Commission and police to acknowledge this 'hidden domain of sexual violence'.
Ms Binning said: 'These statistics are jaw-dropping. We began this investigation because of concerns about the safety of women and children on NHS wards, but we are horrified at what we have uncovered.
'The volume of sexual assaults and rapes is even more horrific when you consider that this data covers the pandemic, when much of the country was in lockdown and hospitals were supposedly even more vigilant.'
The crimes reported include the rape of a girl under 13 and the rape of a woman by 'multiple offenders' in hospitals in the West Midlands.
Three young girls and a boy reported being raped in facilities in Cambridgeshire while six girls were said to have been attacked in hospitals in Lancashire.
Jo Phoenix, the Reading University criminology professor who wrote the report, said the findings showed NHS trusts were 'failing in their duty to protect both patients and staff'.
She added: 'The fact that 95.9 per cent of all reports were either no-further-actioned or not recorded (officially as crimes) is also truly appalling. Although there are no reasons given within the research for this alarmingly low figure, what is clear is that there appears to be ingrained inertia in dealing with this safeguarding and policing failure.'
WRN researchers sent freedom of information requests to 43 police forces. Eight, including those in Scotland and Northern Ireland, were unable to provide the data.
Ms Binning added: 'The true figures are going to be undoubtedly much higher. Crimes of this nature notoriously go under reported as it is and in addition to that there is a lot of missing data.'
The WRN said there needed to be better record-keeping of crimes in healthcare facilities and called on the Home Office to set guidelines for the police to build a more accurate picture of the problem.
The report also called for scrapping rules that say trans people should be accommodated 'according to their presentation' in hospital wards.
It says there should be 'single-sex exemptions for hospital wards in order to ensure that women and girls in particular are adequately protected'.
Other recommendations include clear procedures for reporting and recording allegations. NHS and private hospitals are also urged to review existing safety measures.
Ms Binning added: 'This is serious, it's not going to go away and it's only going to get worse if we don't get a handle on it. We thought we were past the days when someone like Jimmy Savile could go in and wander the wards unchallenged. This does have echoes of that.'
An NHS England spokesman said the figures were 'unacceptable'.
They added: 'All NHS Trusts and organisations must ensure robust measures are in place to ensure immediate action is taken in any cases reported to them and anyone who has experienced any misconduct or violence should come forward, report it and seek help.'
Mother, 75, died from injuries after rape on ward
Valerie Kneale died as a result of her injuries after being raped on a hospital ward.
The 75-year-old had been admitted to the stroke unit of Victoria Hospital in Blackpool where she was said to have been recovering well.
Her heartbroken family initially thought she had been in safe hands and had died from a second stroke. But a routine post-mortem revealed her horrific ordeal and saw Lancashire Police launch a murder investigation.
The grandmother had died from a haemorrhage after suffering a horrific internal injury caused by a 'forcible sexual assault after she was admitted to hospital', an inquest found.
Yet, more than four years on from her death in November 2018 her loved ones are still seeking justice for Mrs Kneale who was described as the 'hub of the family'.
In March 2021 a healthcare professional was arrested on suspicion of murder, rape and sexual assault but was not charged.
A reward of £20,000 has been offered in the hope that it will help provide the key piece of information needed to 'help unlock the case'.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMie2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtMTE5Nzk1MjkvU2hvY2tpbmctZmlndXJlcy1yZXZlYWwtNi01MDAtc2V4LWF0dGFja3MtaG9zcGl0YWxzLWp1c3QtdGhyZWUteWVhcnMuaHRtbNIBf2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtMTE5Nzk1MjkvYW1wL1Nob2NraW5nLWZpZ3VyZXMtcmV2ZWFsLTYtNTAwLXNleC1hdHRhY2tzLWhvc3BpdGFscy1qdXN0LXRocmVlLXllYXJzLmh0bWw?oc=5
2023-04-16 23:04:54Z
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