Sexual Assault Allegations in Care Settings

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Dear Suzanne Martin,

I am writing in respect of your recent request for information to Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (“The Trust”) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“The Act”) which we received on 02 March 2022.

We have considered your request under section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act which entitles you to be provided with any information held by a public authority, unless an appropriate exemption applies. Accordingly, we have answered your request in the order raised:

1. Please provide the number of allegations reported within your trust, clinical commissioning group or other care setting as defined, of

a) Rape
b) Sexual assault
c) Sexual harassment
d) Sexual misconduct

The Trust does not hold the information in the way requested.

We have interpreted your reference to "Misconduct" to mean unacceptable /or improper behaviour. The figures below thus, includes incidents of inappropriate sexual behaviour. Please note, any incidence of rape is not included in the total figures for sexual assault as we do not hold the information to the level you have ask.

Incident Type Total
Sexual Assault 151
Sexual Harassment 51
Sexual Misconduct 45

2. Please advise the location of these offences and or alleged offences broken down by location Mental Health Unit, Hospital, Other Hospital Setting to be clearly defined.

Location Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment Sexual Misconduct
Acute/general Hospital <Less than 5 0 0
Clinic 0 <Less than 5 0
Hospital Buildings (Inside) - Mental Health 46 23 20
Hospital Buildings (Outside) Community 0 0 <Less than 5
Hospital Buildings (Outside)- Mental Health <Less than 5 0 0
Inpatient Area - Other 27 8 7
Location That Is Not A Trust Site <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
Mental Health - Other Location 0 0 <Less than 5
Mental Health Facility - Community <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Office Area <Less than 5 0 0
Outpatient Department <Less than 5 0 0
Patient's Home Community 21 0 <Less than 5
Patient's Home Mental Health <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Police Station <Less than 5 0 0
Public Place/street 7 0 0
Reception Outpatient Department <Less than 5 0 0
School 0 <Less than 5 0
Secure Unit 9 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Social Care Facility - Other 0 <Less than 5 0
Support Services - Other Location 0 0 <Less than 5
Supported Accommodation <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
Unknown Location 10 0 <Less than 5
Ward / Adjacent Area - Mental Health 13 7 5
(blank) 0 <Less than 5 0

Please note, where reference is made to >Less than 5 above, the information is exempt under Section 40(2) of the Act on grounds that the information may contain person sensitive information. Given figures are relatively low some categories, disclosure of the information could potentially result in deductive disclosure of personal information when combined with other sources of information; and result in a breach in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As such, we have not provided the exact figure.

3. Please provide this data for the last three years, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 to date.

Incident Type 2019 2020 2021 2022
Sexual Assault 54 43 39 15
Sexual Harassment 7 16 24 <Less than 5
Sexual Misconduct 8 21 14 <Less than 5

4. Please provide a month by month and location

Month & Year Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment Sexual Misconduct
Jan-19 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 0
Feb-19 <Less than 5 0 0
Mar-19 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Apr-19 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 0
May-19 5 0 0
Jun-19 13 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Jul-19 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Aug-19 6 0 0
Sep-19 <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
Oct-19 <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
Nov-19 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Dec-19 <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
Jan-20 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Feb-20 <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
Mar-20 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Apr-20 <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
May-20 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 0
Jun-20 7 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Jul-20 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Aug-20 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Sep-20 <Less than 5 0 <Less than 5
Oct-20 8 0 <Less than 5
Nov-20 7 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Dec-20 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 0
Jan-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Feb-21 <Less than 5 0 0
Mar-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 0
Apr-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
May-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Jun-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Jul-21 9 0 <Less than 5
Aug-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Sep-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Oct-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 0
Nov-21 <Less than 5 9 <Less than 5
Dec-21 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 0
Jan-22 13 <Less than 5 <Less than 5
Feb-22 <Less than 5 <Less than 5 <Less than 5

5. Please identify if these allegations are
A On Staff carried out by a staff Member
B On Staff carried out by a patient or visitor
C By Staff on a Patient
D by Staff on a visitor
E On Staff carried out by a visitor

The Trust does hold the information requested. Please note column marked "other" is information regarding Visitors and Contractors

Incident Type Other on Patient Patient on Other Patient on Patient Patient on Staff Staff on Patient Staff on Staff Grand Total
Sexual Assault 37 11 40 58 5 0 151
Sexual Harassment 0 0 10 40 0 1 51
Sexual Misconduct 0 8 0 26 11 0 45

6. For each of these allegations please advise if a suspect was identified and or arrested

The Trust does not hold the information in the way requested.
Of 247 alleged incidents, in 179 case, a suspect was identified in incident reports. We are however unable to breakdown the information on whether alleged suspect was arrested.

7. If a suspect was identified and the suspect was identified as a member or staff or a contractor to the trust, CCG or group. What was the outcome? Was the suspect subsequently arrested, charged or convicted? Was the suspect subsequently investigated, suspended or dismissed from the Trust.

The Trust does not hold the information to the level you have requested.

Our incident reporting systems do not capture this information. In the event we were to extract the information to the level you have asked, it would be exempt from disclosure under Section 12 on the basis of costs limits. The length of time it would take to manually retract the information to the level you’ve asked would exceed the timescales of compliance as set out in section 12 of the FOI Act. This is based on reviewing individual incident files to determine what information falls within the criteria at a rate of £25.00 per hour, regardless of the rate of pay of any individual involved in the retrieval of requested information and equates to 18 hours work /or £450.

Conditions of use
Any information supplied to you is free to use for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication and subscription charge, would require the permission of the Trust.

Our copyright and database right material is licensed for use and re-use under the Open Government Licence (OGL). You can view the licence online, or write to: Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU

We hope you are satisfied with the way in which your request was handled, if not you may request an internal review by writing to the Chief Executive at the address shown at the top of this letter or by email to: [email address], within 40 days of this letter. When contacting the Trust please quote the above reference that is unique to your request.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the internal review, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner, who will consider whether the Trust has complied with its obligations under the Act, and can require the Trust to remedy any problems. You can find out more about how to do this, and about the Act in general, on the Information Commissioner’s website at: www.ico.org.uk. Appeals to the Information Commissioner should be sent to: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

A Yakubu

Trust FOI Manager
Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust
Orchard House, St Ann’s Hospital, London N15 3TH
Email: [Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust request email]

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