Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS staff have been disciplined for sexual harassment of (a) NHS staff and (b) patients in each of the last five years.

The information requested is not collected centrally but collected at a local level.

National Health Service organisations are required to have a policy that deals with sexual misconduct.

In July 2022, NHS England established a Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Programme to build on safeguarding processes for protecting patients, improve victim support and focus on early intervention and prevention.

On 4 September 2023, NHS England launched the health service’s first sexual safety charter. As part of this charter, every NHS trust and local health system in England will have a domestic abuse and sexual violence lead to support patients and staff to report incidents and access support.

The next NHS Staff Survey is due to be launched in October 2023 and will include a new question on unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature in the workplace. This will enable organisations to understand the potential prevalence of sexual misconduct within their organisations and inform further actions.