DAILY MAIL COMMENT: End the horror of hospital sex attacks
Hospitals are supposed to be havens of safety for patients, visitors and staff.
Many of those being cared for are physically incapacitated due to illness or injury. Others are elderly or mentally impaired. Some will be unconscious.
So the revelation that at least 6,539 rapes and sexual assaults, some against children, have been committed in infirmaries in just four years is truly horrific.
To make the scandal even worse, only a fraction of offenders are ever charged – meaning thousands get away with their appalling crimes. Some will be depraved staff, others individuals who sneaked into hospitals seeking an opportunity to molest.
‘The thought of a masked and gowned predator stalking the wards is the stuff of nightmares,’ says criminologist Jo Phoenix, a member of the Women’s Rights Network which uncovered the alarming figures.
(Stock Image) The revelation that at least 6,539 rapes and sexual assaults, some against children, have been committed in infirmaries in just four years is truly horrific
The group is demanding measures to improve safety from sexual violence in hospitals, such as more CCTV, better police data collection on attacks and NHS trusts making it easier for staff to raise concerns.
That would be a fine start. But the Government could also reduce the threat by heeding the Mail’s long-running campaign to end the disgrace of mixed-sex wards.
And health chiefs could curtail the dangers by scrapping the controversial policy that allows trans women – who may still be male-bodied – to be treated on wards reserved for females. The obsession with inclusivity should not trump the need to protect women and girls.
Family and friends entrust to hospitals the care of loved ones who are at their most vulnerable. That so many patients, and the staff who tend them, fall victim to sex attacks is a stain on our country.
Unwarranted scandal
ONE of the most chilling aspects of the cases of evil Metropolitan Police officers Wayne Couzens and David Carrick is that they used their warrant cards to gain their victims’ trust.
So it is deeply disturbing to learn that at least 110 officers have been investigated for misusing their police badges while off duty.
Some sought to intimidate the public during drunken brawls, dodge speeding penalties or make inappropriate approaches to women. Yet many of these miscreants received nothing more than a ticking off.
If officers feel able to abuse their specially granted powers with impunity, it not only undermines public trust in the police – it risks emboldening one of them to carry out another heinous crime.
Not smart enough
RISHI Sunak is right when he says motorists have lost confidence in ill-advised and dangerous smart motorways, where the hard shoulder is turned into a lane of traffic.
Yet the Prime Minister is trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes by claiming he is scrapping 14 of these death-trap roads. In fact, it is only seven.
If new smart motorways are judged too unsafe to be built, there can be no rationale to retain the existing ones.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper could simply make those already in operation safe by turning the inside lane back into a hard shoulder. Now that would be smart.
n THE disruption by animal rights protesters at the Grand National was infuriating enough. But without our sister paper, The Mail on Sunday, tipping off the police about the sabotage plot, the race might have been wrecked. Yet from what we’ve seen recently, we won’t hold our breath that the anarchists will feel the full weight of the law. Too often the police treat them with kid gloves, while some judges seem to regard them as kindred spirits. How long must the law-abiding public wait before the book is thrown at these virtue-signalling vandals?
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