Patients’ safety tsar raises alarm over spate of sexual assaults in Scots hospitals
Scotland’s Patient Safety Commissioner has expressed deep concern over new figures which suggest around 1,000 sexual assaults and rapes have taken place in Scottish hospitals in the last five years.
A study by the Women’s Rights Network Scotland (WRNS) found almost 300 sexual assaults and rapes were logged by police between 2019-2024, with more than half on hospital wards.
But the group concluded that as only 29% of hospitals are reporting cases to Police Scotland, the true number is likely to be closer to 1,000 attacks.
Source: The Sunday Post, 15 December 2025