Anger after alleged rape of girl in hospital

A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a fellow patient while receiving treatment at Perth Children’s Hospital, sparking calls for an “urgent and transparent” investigation.

Western Australia’s Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson says the girl’s alleged rape by a fellow patient was “devastating and preventable”.

The parents of the then 13-year-old girl, who used the pseudonym Florence, are considering legal action after the girl was allegedly raped by a male patient while receiving treatment in the PCH psychiatric ward in 2022.

Florence was being treated after being sexually abused three months earlier.

State Liberal leader Libby Mettam is calling for an “urgent and transparent” investigation into the incident, according to an ABC report on Tuesday.

Speaking on Tuesday, Ms Mettam criticised PCH’s refusal to release video recordings from the night of the alleged incident, saying it was the “absolute minimum” the hospital could do.

“This is a devastating situation and we urgently need a transparent investigation into what happened,” said Ms Mettam, who is also the opposition’s health spokeswoman.

“The fact that a victim of sexual assault was allegedly attacked in a mental hospital indicates an absolute failure of the Cook government and we must ensure that all necessary measures are taken to ensure this does not happen again.”

According to ABC, an internal review by the Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) found that staff had failed to carry out hourly checks on the ward on the morning of the alleged incident.

“If staff were afraid or hiding out of fear of the male patient, that should have set off alarm bells and resulted in the other patients being better protected because of the obvious concern,” Ms Mettam said.

“The very fact that we are hearing reports of staff fearful for this patient and the inability of staff to protect patients on this ward shows an absolute failure of the government to ensure patient safety at our leading children’s hospital in WA.”

On Tuesday, Western Australia’s Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson addressed the media.

“This particular incident was … devastating and could have been prevented, and everything has been done to ensure it does not happen again,” Ms Sanderson said.

She said it was “inexplicable why a number of things were not done.”

“It is inexplicable why security was not called. Security is available 24 hours a day to assist staff,” Ms Sanderson said.

“Your supervisor should have been present during this incident and supported the staff. So it was an extremely serious incident and there were a number of failings.”

The minister said the incident had been reported to Western Australia Police and had sparked investigations by both the Child and Adolescent Health Service – which runs the PCH – and the independent Office of the Chief Psychiatrist.

She said all recommendations from those reports had been adopted and that an additional $7.7 million had been made available “to make changes to the station.”

Four PCH employees have already been threatened with disciplinary action in connection with the incident and are no longer stationed in the PCH psychiatric unit.

The PCH psychiatric unit is mixed gender, as is common in all Australian units.

Ms Sanderson said she understood the alleged rape was before the courts.

Florence’s parents told ABC they could not understand how the hospital they trusted with their daughter’s safety could become the site of a second sexual assault.

“It was absolutely heartbreaking that the same thing happened to her in less than three months. It really devastated me,” says Luke.