As shown in recently published data, the NHS has spent more than £4,000,000 on legal fees and compensation for sexual misconduct claims over the last five years.
More than 1,500 reports of harassment, assault, and inappropriate behaviour by employees at the health service since 2018 were also revealed via a freedom of information request.
According to The Times, these include rape and inappropriate touching claims made by both patients and coworkers.
According to statistics, $2,174,658 in damages as well as an additional £1.5 million for claimants’ legal fees were awarded to victims of sexual misconduct.
The NHS also paid £338,194 for its own legal costs, bringing the total bill to just over £4 million.
Campaign group Surviving in Scrubs, which records stories of sexual harassment in the health service, told the newspaper: ‘As shocking as these findings are, they are not surprising.
‘Trusts seem to hold their reputations in such high regard that they are glossing over the issues of sexism, misogyny, sexual harassment and sexual assault.
‘More needs to be done to protect and support the survivors of these behaviours.’
The group’s website features more than 150 anonymous stories of sexism, harassment and assault in the healthcare sector.
One says: ‘I lost count of the number of times my surgical male colleagues would accidentally touch my breasts and apologise.
‘It happened so often I assumed it was because that just happened all the time and that my body was just getting in the way.
‘I’ve been a consultant 5 years, we have loads of female trainees and I’ve never ever accidentally touched their breasts.’
Last December, a nurse was stripped of his licence to practice after sexually assaulting female patients by filming up their gowns as they were unconscious post-surgery.
Paul Grayson had been sentence to 12 years in prison the previous May, with a judge saying he had ‘betrayed the nursing profession’ with his actions.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal found Grayson had also installed recording equipment in the women’s staff toilets, and possessed indecent images of children.
Responding to the latest sexual misconduct statistics, an NHS spokesman said: ‘Sexual misconduct, violence, harassment and abuse are criminal acts.
‘All NHS organisations must have robust measures in place to ensure immediate action is taken in any cases reported to them.’