Politicians ‘peacock’ over single-sex spaces – so why do they ignore vulnerable women on mixed-sex wards?

All the women I know hospitalised by their mental health were made sick from abuses and violence suffered at the hands of men or institutions, writes Jess Phillips MP. The latest scandal of sexual abuse in NHS mental health units was only a matter of time

That 500 sexual assaults have been reported on mixed sex wards is shocking, but what should shock us even more is that vulnerable people would be housed in such a way (AFP via Getty)

I am rarely surprised when there is a new breaking story about routine levels of sexual violence in institutions. However, in reading the findings of the joint investigation between The Independent and Sky News, I find myself aghast at the sheer scale and mishandling of sexual abuse and violence in our nation’s mental health facilities.

I have worked for decades with women who suffer from severe and enduring mental health crises. Women with serious substance misuse illnesses. Women who have self-harmed to the point that there isn’t an inch of their skin that I can see that isn’t tattooed with ligature marks. Every single one of the women I have known who ended up so ill with their mental health that they would be clinically monitored or institutionalised were made sick from abuses and violence they had suffered at the hands of men in their lives or institutions they had relied on.

If any institution should be acutely aware of the needs of this group – the need for safety, security and protection from harm – it should be those places intended to help people recover from such trauma. Much like abuses highlighted in our children’s care system, it is both harrowing and surprising to hear that 20,000 allegations of sexual assaults in 10 years could be the reality.