Personal Injury Solicitors

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has apologised to victims of Jimmy Savile, after an inquiry found that the entertainer had abused hospital patients aged from five years to 75 – after being allowed access to NHS hospital wards during his career as a disc jockey.

Savile used his position as a charity fundraiser to access vulnerable patients – and was also given a position of responsibility heading up a taskforce at the top secure mental hospital Broadmoor, where some of Britain’s most dangerous prisoners are held for treatment.

A report into Savile’s activities at 28 hospitals across the country contains graphic details of how Savile carried out sexual abuse on patients recovering from operations, according to BBC News.

The report includes details of abuse carried out at Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor, where he enjoyed unsupervised access to patients.

Around 60 people have come forward with information about how they were abused by the disc jockey, including medical staff at NHS hospitals.

Savile’s activities took place between 1962 and 2009 and ranged from making sexual remarks to vulnerable patients and staff – to sexual assault on patients, including three incidences of rape.

The Health Secretary told MPs in the Commons that one victim was terrified that she might have become pregnant following an incident of sexual abuse by Savile.

The report says that just nine patients reported Savile to NHS staff – and a further eight victims met Savile at Leeds Infirmary but they were not patients.

However, Savile abused patients in their beds, the report found, including teenagers recovering from surgery – and a 10-year-old boy was sexually assaulted on a trolley while waiting to have an X-ray for his broken arm.

The report’s author, Dr Sue Proctor, says that “lax” controls on access to the mortuary at Leeds Infirmary may have allowed Savile to photograph himself with the bodies stored there – and potentially even carry out sex acts on the bodies, as a result of having a “fixation” with the dead.

A number of organisational failures over the years enabled Savile to continue unchallenged, BBC News reports – and someone “as manipulative as Savile was allowed to thrive and continue his abusive behaviour unchecked for years”, the report says.

However, the Leeds report stated that it was clear no one else was to blame for Savile’s activities apart from the disc jockey himself. Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust has issued an apology to victims of the entertainer.

Jeremy Hunt said in the Commons that victims of Savile had been let down badly – adding that the findings of the report had caused “a deep sense of revulsion”.

“As a nation, at that time we held Savile in our affection as a somewhat eccentric national treasure, with a strong commitment to charitable causes,” Mr Hunt said.

“Today's report shows that, in reality, he was a sickening and prolific sexual abuser – who repeatedly exploited the trust of a nation for his own vile purposes.”

The Health Secretary is writing to all NHS health trusts to make sure they are “confident” about patient safety.

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – Sexual & Physical Abuse Claims

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of personal injury solicitors and can advise those who have suffered sexual abuse and/or physical abuse on how to make a no win no fee compensation claim.

Before a personal injury compensation claim can be made under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, a conviction usually has to be obtained in court.

Claimants can also make no win no fee Sexual & Physical Abuse Claims against the person who abused them in the civil court – or against the organisation which had a duty of care and failed in this.

In some circumstances, claims may also be made against the estate of a deceased person if it is proved they carried out sexual or physical abuse on the claimant.

For sympathetic, confidential and expert legal advice on no win no fee Sexual & Physical Abuse Claims, contact Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.