Reporting a sexual assault at work: my experience as a nurse

Raising concerns to protect patients is part of nurses’ professional duty of care. A nurse explains the process, from giving a statement to police to going to court

A few years ago, something disturbing happened while I was at work that set off a chain of unusual events.

I was tired after a long shift, walking through a hospital corridor on my way to the exit when I saw what looked like a man and woman in an intimate embrace – he was clearly fondling her breasts. Strange behaviour in a hospital, I thought.

Reporting an assault witnessed in a hospital

However, as I drew closer, I realised this was no courting couple. The man was older, perhaps in