Revealed: Five sex attacks reported in London hospitals every week

Sex offences: Five incidents were reported every week last year, in hospitals across the capital
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Francesca Gillett26 November 2016

The number of reported sex attacks in London hospitals has more than doubled in just two years, shocking figures have revealed.

More than five sex offences were reported every week in hospitals across the capital in 2015 – with hundreds more having already taken place within wards so far this year.

In just three and a half years police received more than 1,000 reports of rapes and sex assaults.

New figures from the Met Police – obtained by the Standard via a Freedom of Information Act request – showed there were 298 sexual offences reported to police last year.

This figure has more than doubled since 2013, when just 147 sex offences were reported.

The statistics have been called “shocking but not surprising” by sexual abuse expert and senior lecturer at the University of Roehampton, Christiane Sanderson.

Abuser: Jimmy Savile abused more than 60 people at Stoke Mandeville Hospital over two decades, an inquiry found.
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Psychologist Ms Sanderson said sex abusers often prey on the most vulnerable people – and sick patients can be easily targeted.

There have been 1,031 reports of sex assaults in London hospitals since 2013. There were 147 reported in 2013, 305 in 2014, 298 in 2015 and 281 for the period January to September in 2016.

“Any figures like these are always shocking that this occurs but it’s not surprising,” said Ms Sanderson, who is a trustee of sexual abuse charity for One in Four.

“We know that people who commit these kind of assaults often prey on the most vulnerable and people in hospital who are poorly are vulnerable.”

Vulnerable: Sick people can be an easy target for abusers, psychologist Christiane Sanderson said.
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She told the Standard: “We know that doctors and paediatricians have had allegations made against them and have been found guilty but it goes right across the board.

“Certainly it could be other patients, we need to make people more aware of patients’ actions, wandering around the hospital especially at all times of the day where there’s not much staff around.

“I think it’s something which is quite opportunistic as well. Some people will deliberately plan and target vulnerable people.

“But there will be some people who are quite opportunistic and recognise there is someone poorly there.”

In January last year, figures obtained by the Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act request found reports of sexual violence in hospitals had risen by 50 per cent since 2011.

A spokesperson for NHS England in London said: “We would like to reassure people that security is in place to ensure that our staff, patients and their families and friends are safe in our hospitals.

"We would encourage anyone who experiences any kind of sexual offence on any of our sites to come forward and report it.”

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