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Responses > 249-2024

Freedom of Information request 249-2024

Response published: 16 December 2024
Copy of Trust Policy | Media | Misc

FOI Request

1. Has the trust received written advice or guidance from NHS England setting out how to comply with the NHS sexual safety charter? Please answer yes or no.
1.1 If yes, please set out what advice or guidance NHS England provided, or provide a copy of it.
2. Point 10 of the NHS sexual safety charter states: “We will capture and share data on prevalence and staff experience transparently.” If you answered yes to question 1, has NHS England provided written advice or guidance as to how the trust should record the prevalence of unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviour in order to comply with point 10 of the charter? Please answer yes or no.
2.1 If yes, please set out what advice or guidance NHS England has provided, or provide a copy of it. Specifically, please clarify whether this guidance prescribes what sexual harm data the trust should record, and how to record it? For example, does it stipulate that the trusts should record specific categories of sexual harm, such as patient-on-staff or staff-on-patient incidents? If so, please provide details.
3. If the trust has received no guidance from NHS England as to how to record the prevalence of unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviour, how does the trust currently record these incidents? 3.1 Does the trust record and centrally collate all types of sexual safety incidents? Please answer yes or no.
3.2. Which of the following categories of incidents does the trust record and centrally collate. Please answer yes or no: • Patient-on-staff incidents • Staff-on-staff incidents • Patient-on-patient incidents • Staff-on-staff incidents • Visitor-on-staff incidents • Visitor-on-patient incidents • Patient-on-visitor incidents • Staff-on-visitor incidents 3.3 Does the trust record any other categories of incidents, such as incidents perpetrated by members of the public? If so, please provide details of these categories.
4. Is the trust fully compliant with all 10 points of the sexual safety charter? 4.1. If yes, when did the trust become fully compliant? 4.2 If no, what points of the charter has the trust yet to comply with; and when does the trust expect to become fully compliant with the charter? 5. Has the trust’s compliance with the charter been assessed or audited by NHS England? Please answer yes or no.
5.1 If yes, what were the findings of that assessment or audit? Was the trust deemed to be fully compliant, partially compliant or not compliant? 5.2 If yes, when was the assessment or audit carried out and when did the trust receive its findings? 6. Has the trust undertaken any internal audits or assessments of its compliance with the sexual safety charter? Please answer yes or no.
6.1 If yes, what were the findings or this assessment or audit? 6.2 If no, does the trust have plans to conduct an audit or assessment of compliance? 6.3 If you answered yes to 6.2, when does the trust plan to conduct this assessment or audit of compliance? 7. Does the trust keep centralised records of child abuse committed on the trust premises? Please answer yes or no
8. Which incident and risk reporting system does the trust use to record sexual unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviour? (For example, Datix or Ulysses.)
9. Has the trust appointed a domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV) lead? Please answer yes or no.

FOI Response

Freedom of Information Request – Ref: 249-2024

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. Please find our response below.

You asked:

Has the trust received written advice or guidance from NHS England setting out how to comply with the NHS sexual safety charter? Please answer yes or no. If yes, please set out what advice or guidance NHS England provided, or provide a copy of it.

Our response:

Yes, the “Sexual safety in the workplace: resources and support toolkit” PDF were received – Sexual safety in the workplace resources and support

You asked:

Point 10 of the NHS sexual safety charter states: “We will capture and share data on prevalence and staff experience transparently.” If you answered yes to question 1, has NHS England provided written advice or guidance as to how the trust should record the prevalence of unwanted, inappropriate, and/or harmful sexual behaviour to comply with point 10 of the charter? Please answer yes or no.

Our response:

No

You asked:

If the trust has received no guidance from NHS England as to how to record the prevalence of unwanted, inappropriate, and/or harmful sexual behaviour, how does the trust currently record these incidents?

Our response:

Yes

You asked:

Does the trust record and centrally collate all types of sexual safety incidents? Please answer yes or no.

Our response:

Yes, bar those described below.

You asked:

Which of the following categories of incidents does the trust record and centrally collate. Please answer yes or no:

Our response:

Patient-on-staff incidents – Yes
Staff-on-staff incidents *
Patient-on-patient incidents – Yes
Visitor-on-staff incidents – Yes, but recorded as ‘public on staff’ locally
Visitor-on-patient incidents – Yes, but recorded as ‘public on patient’ locally
Patient-on-visitor incidents – Yes, but recorded as ‘patient on public’ locally
Staff-on-visitor incidents *
*Where it is reported that a member of staff is the alleged perpetrator of a sexual safety incident, locally we would report staff on staff, or staff on public, incidents via the ‘managing allegations’ route. These incidents are not recorded on the same central system as patient safety incidents.

You asked:

Does the trust record any other categories of incidents, such as incidents perpetrated by members of the public? If so, please provide details of these categories.

Our response:

As above

You asked:

Is the trust fully compliant with all 10 points of the sexual safety charter?

Our response:

No, this is a work in progress, further detail is in the response below.

You asked:

If no, what points of the charter has the trust yet to comply with; and when does the trust expect to become fully compliant with the charter?

Our response:

Please see attached GHC document which benchmarks the organisation against the charter. GHC Sexual Safety of NHS staff and patients

You asked:

Does the trust keep centralised records of child abuse committed on the trust premises?

Our response:

Yes

You asked:

Which incident and risk reporting system does the trust use to record sexual unwanted, inappropriate, and/or harmful sexual behaviour?

Our response:

Datix

You asked:

Has the trust appointed a domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV) lead?

Our response:

Yes. Nicola Hazle – Director of Nursing, Therapies and Quality.

Next steps:

Should you have any queries in relation to our response, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your request and wish to ask us to review our response, you should write to:

Louise Moss
Head of Legal Services / Associate Director of Corporate Governance
c/o Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Gloucester Business Park
Brockworth, GL3 4AW
E-mail: louise.moss@ghc.nhs.uk

If you are not content with the outcome of any review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for further advice/guidance. Generally, the ICO will not consider your case unless you have exhausted your enquiries with the Trust which should include considering the use of the Trust’s formal complaints procedure. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.