Sexual assault against older people in hospitals: viewpoint from Amanda Warburton-Wynn (March 2023)

Summary

A research paper was published in October 2021 highlighting results of Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests sent to NHS Trusts in England. The FOI Requests asked for the number of incidents of sexual assault reported by hospitals where the victim was aged over 60, and the alleged perpetrator was a member of staff.

The resulting findings were that there were at least 75 reports of sexual assault on patients over 60 by hospital staff in the past five years. The findings also show that whilst the majority of victims were female, 30% were male and that a disappointing number were reported to police – only 16. Of these, 14 were closed as “No Further Action” by the police.

In this viewpoint paper published in the Journal of Adult Protection, Amanda Warburton-Wynn highlights the findings of this research.