‘Signs of sexual, physical abuse could go undetected’

Not all doctors working with police services are adequately trained to carry out forensic examinations, which puts child victims of assault at risk, according to an expert.

One recent advertisement for a forensic physician called for no specialist skills or experience, said Professor Ian Wall, president of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (FFLM).

In a speech to a major conference tomorrow, he will say that rigorous standards of forensic medical examination must be set to protect children who are the victims of sexual assault.

Unless doctors who carry out forensic medical examinations – on possible child victims and suspects of sexual assault – are trained to high standards, then signs of sexual or physical abuse could go undetected and assailants walk free, he will tell the largest UK medical conference on the subject, being held in Manchester.

“Ensuring that forensic physicians know what they are doing is the least that the victims of sexual assault can expect,” he will tell the conference, entitled Fear, Fantasy and Facts: Sex Crimes and Young Children.

The meeting is organised by St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre, the first centre of its kind in the UK.

He will add: “The fact is that not all doctors working with police services are adequately trained to carry out forensic examinations, and that puts child victims of assault at risk.”

Last year, the Taskforce on the Health Aspects of Violence Against Women and Children called on the Department of Health to ensure that clinicians undertaking forensic medical care were appropriately trained, skilled and experienced, to FFLM standards.

The FFLM supports in principle a call for forensic medical services to be commissioned by the NHS rather than police services, subject to adequate funding and national quality standards.