NHS trusts and integrated care boards have been told by NHS England to review their policies for handling cases of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse of staff and patients and to consider adopting dedicated policies on sexual safety.
The action followed an investigation by The BMJ and the Guardian in May, which found that NHS trusts were failing to protect staff and patients from sexual assault and harassment,1 prompting medical colleges and healthcare unions to urge the government to act immediately. A series of requests made under freedom of information legislation showed that, despite trusts recording more than 35 000 cases of rape, sexual assault, harassment, stalking, and abusive remarks on their premises between 2017 and 2022, just one in 10 trusts had a dedicated policy on how to deal with …