Abstract
Introduction: The Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) at Sheffield Children’s Hospital is a relatively new service for children who have been victims of sexual assault or rape. Assessment of these children involves taking a full history of the assault as well as a medical and sexual history, and is followed by both a general and intimate examination. Feedback is essential to improve the services the SARC offers to victims and their familiesat such a traumatic time.Aims: To assess user satisfaction and suggest improvements to the existing SARC service.Method/Results: Completed questionnaires from SARC users were collected over a period of 13 months and the data analysed. Analysis of the 38 returned questionnaires demonstrated that the majority of feedback from users was positive. There were only four responses that could be interpreted as neutral. There were numerous positive and few negative comments in the free-text boxes.Conclusion: Child sexual abuse victims use the service at a difficult time. After such a traumatic experience one would expect at least some negative feedback. However, the analysis of the small numbers giving feedback demonstrated that the majority of them found the experience to be positive or very positive.Learning points: Patient feedback is a valuable tool in service evaluation and improvement. It can be used for quality improvement in a SARC setting.
Highlights
The Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) at Sheffield Children’s Hospital is a relatively new service for children who have been victims of sexual assault or rape
Child sexual abuse victims use the service at a difficult time
The copyright is retained by the author and the Royal Medical Society, except where explicitly otherwise stated
Summary
The Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) at Sheffield Children’s Hospital is a relatively new service for children who have been victims of sexual assault or rape. A recent report from the NSPCC states that there has been an increase in sexual offences against children in the UK of between 12% and 39% in 2013/14, as reported by the police.[1] As these figures only comprise the numbers recorded by the police, the actual figures of sexual offences against children are certainly much higher Whether this indicates an increase in prevalence or just an increased tendency for victims or their guardians to report such incidents, due to increased awareness generated by the media, is not entirely clear.[1] A report by Radford et al demonstrates the prevalence of child sexual abuse, in which household interviews were performed asking directly about experiences of sexual abuse; results showed that 4.8% of 11–17 year olds reported contact sexual abuse.[4] It is clear that there should be dedicated services within the secondary care setting with the capability of assessing victims of child or young person sexual assault and organizing ongoing support for the victim, whether that be medical or psychological support
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
