First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 16 January 2025.
To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is responding to reports that 182 sexual assaults, including rapes, have taken place in hospitals in the last five years. (S6F-03721)
Assaults on patients or staff are absolutely abhorrent and cannot be tolerated. Everyone has the right to access healthcare or their place of work without fear of verbal or physical abuse. All instances of violent behaviour, including sexual assaults, are against the law and should be immediately reported to the police and dealt with by the justice system appropriately.
The NHS Scotland charter of patient rights and responsibilities makes clear to patients that they
“may face legal action if”
they are
“abusive, violent or aggressive towards NHS staff”
or members of the public
“when using NHS services.”
The NHS Scotland bullying and harassment workforce policy provides a means of addressing unresolved, significant or persistent sexual harassment and misconduct.
The figures are shocking. Hospital patients are often vulnerable and exposed, and they and their families must be confident that they are safe. As the First Minister has said, the perpetrators of sexual assault and rape must be held to account. However, there are serious questions about how the national health service responds to such crimes and about its safeguarding procedures to prevent opportunities for them to occur.
The situation that is described in this morning’s report from the Royal College of Nursing, which mentions patients having to be treated in corridors, is not only a symptom of the NHS being overstretched; it leaves people in vulnerable situations. How does the Scottish Government ensure that robust safeguarding is in place, that the NHS takes sexual assaults in hospitals seriously, and that patients will be safe when they are in hospital?
On whether such issues are taken seriously, I hope that what I have said already reassures Claire Baker that, in all circumstances and in all aspects of our public services, any question of sexual assault or any form of sexual misconduct must be addressed by public authorities. They have statutory and legal obligations to do so, and I expect them to do that. We will reinforce that message in light of the point that Claire Baker has put to me.
As part of our approach to the patient safety programme, we must ensure that patients are safe at all times when they are in the care of the NHS. That includes ensuring that appropriate safeguarding is in place in all circumstances. It is the duty of all health boards to ensure that that is the case, and we will remind them of that obligation.
In the past five years, seven sexual assaults and two rapes have taken place at Carseview psychiatric unit in Dundee. Given the level of underreporting, those may be just the tip of the iceberg. I have heard horrendous accounts about how frightening it is to be a female patient at Carseview. The facilities there are often terrifying for patients, who are at their most vulnerable, especially as they include mixed-sex wards. That is not just me saying so; the Strang report agrees. Will the First Minister instruct his Government to stop the use of such wards in NHS hospitals and secure psychiatric settings, starting with those at Carseview?
As Tess White will know, work is under way to strengthen the approach to patient care at Carseview. As she has cited, that work was identified and taken forward by David Strang in his report. It has been pursued by NHS Tayside, and the effectiveness of that is being assessed regularly.
In relation to the question of single-sex wards, the NHS estate has to be managed carefully to make sure that appropriate safety is in place for individuals at all times. That principle should be applied to the care of patients at Carseview and in any other hospital setting.
We move to constituency and general supplementaries.