Faster access to care for victim-survivors

image of Faster access to care for victim-survivors

Right now, too many people in WA are travelling long distances — then facing agonising waits — to access care after sexual assault.

Survivors are waiting up to 12 months for specialist trauma counselling. Some are waiting 9 hours or more for a forensic medical exam, or being turned away from their local hospital altogether and sent to Perth.

Every victim-survivor deserves timely care and support.

Call on the Cook Government to urgently fund faster access to forensic medical exams and specialist trauma counselling.

Right now, too many people in WA are travelling long distances — then facing agonising waits — to access care after sexual assault.

Survivors are waiting up to 12 months for specialist trauma counselling. Some are waiting 9 hours or more for a forensic medical exam, or being turned away from their local hospital altogether and sent to Perth.

Every victim-survivor deserves timely care and support.

Call on the Cook Government to urgently fund faster access to forensic medical exams and specialist trauma counselling.

Call on your MP for faster care for survivors of sexual assault

Find your local rep

Subject:

I’m writing as your constituent to urge you to take action to ensure victim-survivors of sexual assault in Western Australia can access the timely, trauma-informed care they need.

Right now, too many people are being forced to travel long distances — and then face an agonising wait — just to access a forensic medical examination after sexual assault.

All healthcare services should have trained staff available to conduct these examinations. In one instance, a woman who had just experienced sexual assault waited eight hours for an examination to begin after arriving at a major health campus in Karratha.

The Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing found that not all hospitals are providing forensic medical examinations. For example, Peel Hospital refers victim-survivors to SARC in Subiaco, requiring a round trip of nearly 150 km for those in Mandurah and surrounds.  
These delays and gaps in care are unacceptable. Forensic medical examinations play a crucial role in documenting injuries, collecting forensic evidence, and can identify the perpetrator. But that care must be timely.

In addition to a timely forensic medical examination, access to counselling and ongoing specialist support is vital to recovery. Yet sexual assault services across WA are underfunded and overstretched — the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and Kimberley regions having no state services at all.

That’s why I’m calling for:

1. Increased funding to healthcare services across the state to provide timely forensic medical care  - including more forensic nurse examiner positions; and

2. An immediate uplift in funding to WA’s five sexual assault services — as well as establishing new services for blackspot areas.

Victim-survivors should not be forced to wait for help any longer.

Sincerely,

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