RCNI Press Release - 12 May 2011

Rape survivors badly betrayed by HSE incompetence as 25 cases face collapse and reliable data collection system on child abuse and rape dropped

Today 25 rape survivors heard that the forensic evidence gathered by the HSE may be thrown out of court due to HSE incompetence. An unregistered nurse carried out forensic exams on rape victims for 18 months in the specialist Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATUs) in Donegal. Her testimony and therefore the forensic evidence may not now be available in any court case. Communication breakdowns across the HSE appear to have contributed to this error. This is happening at the same time that the HSE closes down a proven National Data Collection system on child sexual abuse and rape.

Fiona Neary, RCNI Executive Director said, ‘This is a very bad day for victims of rape and sexual abuse in Ireland. We are very concerned for the wellbeing of the victims in these 25 cases, and for the future of child protection in Ireland. We know that for survivors of rape the experience of a forensic medical examination can be traumatic. Many victims choose to do it because they do not want this to happen to someone else – they want to prevent anyone else being hurt. The reality is that for these 25 rape victims, having made the very difficult decision to have a forensic medical examination, the possibility of their gaining justice has been greatly diminished.

These rape victims have been betrayed by the HSE.

The RCNI are angered and deeply dismayed by this incident. The RCNI have fought for almost a decade to ensure the HSE provide adequate Sexual Assault Treatment Units (SATUs) throughout the country and that they adhere to the highest standards and operate in the best interest of the survivor. The excellent work of all involved and the solid partnership that has developed between nursing and medical practitioners within the HSE, the Justice Department, the Gardaí and the Rape Crisis Sector has now been seriously compromised by incompetencies within the HSE.

The Donegal Rape Crisis Centre is on hand to support these survivors, many of whom are current or former clients of the centre. Back-up to the Donegal centre is being provided by neighbouring Rape Crisis Centres to ensure support is available to everyone affected.

Having betrayed these victims the HSE has also decided to shut their eyes to child sexual abuse and rape.

The RCNI is appalled by the HSE decision to terminate the reliable and proven national data collection programme on child sexual abuse and rape and calls on Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly to immediately reverse this decision. In its place the HSE are to adopt an unreliable, unfit for purpose approach which delivers inaccurate, misleading information which will result in increased harm to victims, persistence in sexual violence and potentially loss of life.

Fiona Neary, RCNI Director, said, ‘we are appalled by the decision of the HSE to terminate funding towards a proven national data collection system developed over seven years. The data collected annually by the RCNI, across 15 Rape Crisis Centres on thousands of crimes of child sexual abuse, rape and sexual assault has been available to inform government policy and planning across 6 government departments. It additionally informs the work of over 100 NGOs. Reliable, accurate data is essential in identifying perpetrators, identifying patterns of rape and sexual abuse, preventing further rape and sexual abuse, holding perpetrators to account and planning services. Without this we cannot be equipped to reduce rape and child sexual abuse. The HSE is choosing to make future decisions in the dark. This is the worst possible outcome for child protection. We estimate that this incompetence will set the HSE and child protection agencies and strategies across Ireland, back at least 10 years in terms of its capacity to deliver effective child protection.

‘Horrific failures have shown time and time again that reliable data, transparency and accountability are the most fundamental elements of child protection. It is impossible to comprehend this decision by the HSE to shut down an extensive and reliable source of information on sexual violence. Today (May 11th) the Irish government will be invited to sign the new Council of Europe Convention on Combating and Ending all forms of violence against women and domestic violence. Yet the HSE are about to shut down one of the accurate evidence-base mechanisms for Irish compliance with this Convention.

‘The HSE seek to replace a national system with a flawed, paper-based process which will be wasteful and potentially misleading. This decision betrays the substantial gap in capacity, joined-up thinking and expertise in the HSE.
‘The destruction of capacity within the RCNI, Rape Crisis and child protection sectors will make some very short term and minor gains in terms of public spending cuts. However, this saving will be illusionary as the true and significant costs will quickly become evident. For example, in the week that the HSE made this decision, a consultancy firm, contracted by the HSE to address gaps and failures in forensic medical examinations for children, contacted the RCNI seeking reliable data and information to inform their design of a best practice response. It is unfortunate that such incompetency is not unusual in terms of decision-making in the HSE.'

Notes:

The RCNI has sought an independent evaluation of the paper based data collection to be implemented by the HSE in comparison with the web-based Programme of reliable, national data collection that the RCNI has developed and operated for over 7 years. To summarise this evaluation:

The outstanding detail, accuracy and quality of the data collected by the RCNI web-based data recording system is being replaced with unreliable, inaccurate, incomplete and therefore misleading information. The substitution of the RCNI database with the proposed HSE Template would essentially replace a well-designed, well functioning system that delivers systematic, accurate and useful information with a ‘poor data in, poor data out’ template with no discernable methodology. It is not possible to discern service usage patterns and therefore impossible to accurately examine current service delivery or plan for the future. The major consequence of poor data collection is persistent violence, increased harm to victims and potentially death. (The document by Dr Maureen Lyons, Director of Research Design and Methodology, UCD, is available here.)

HSE decision-making regarding data collection on sexual violence is clearly at odds with Government policy and the National Strategy and demonstrates that the safety of women and children is not a priority across HSE decision-making in general in terms of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence.

For information please contact:

Clíona Saidléar on 087 2196447

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