Patient Alleges Mishandling of Sexual assault Case

responding to these figures, Diana saeid: “I’m worried that police forces are avoiding interviewing suspects in order to thwart increasing numbers of right to reviews by victims.”

In her complaint to Hampshire police,Diana raised 10 issues with the way the force treated her. These included officers regarding her with suspicion, wrongly telling her that “everyone” involved would be investigated, failing to discuss before her witness video interview any special measures to accommodate her disabilities, which make it painful for her to sit for prolonged periods of time, and the poor dialog from the officer in charge.

Diana’s video interview was so short that she left feeling “they had already made their mind up not to proceed with my case”. It was then incorrectly summarised on the police system by the investigating officer, a trainee, who wrote: “The blanket was pulled down when the incident occurred.” This account wrongly repeated the nurse’s statement rather than Diana’s testimony.

The investigating officer has since apologised for this “misinterpretation”.

In total, of the 10 issues Diana raised in her complaint, the force found that its treatment of her was “not acceptable” in five. On a sixth issue, Diana’s allegation that she was treated with suspicion, the force was unable to determine whether the treatment she received was acceptable or not.

The officer who conducted Diana’s video interview is now under performance review, although Diana was keen to emphasise that she found it unfair that it was a junior, female, ethnic minority member of staff facing sanctions, not her management.

‘The whole thing was pointless’

As well as reporting her assault to the police, Diana made complaints to the hospital, and the General Medical council (GMC), the body responsible for good, safe patient care across the UK.

The hospital never informed Diana of its internal investigation’s outcome. Speaking to openDemocracy, Diana raised concerns about how the nurses had spoken about her in their evidence. “One implied I had made the claim of sexual assault because I was unhappy I had to wait too long for the procedure,” she said.”I wasn’t unhappy at all.”

The nurse also wrote how Diana seemed “strange”, disregarding how she was nervous and feeling ill. She does not see why the nurse’s perception of her personality shoudl have any bearing on her allegation of sexual assault.

Diana is still awaiting the results of the GMC investigation, which has been delayed for over a year due to the need to wait