National Strategy for Preventing and Eradicating Violence Against Girls and Equally Safe Delivery Plan (Scotland)

Brief Description

In 2014 (updated in 2016), the Scottish Government published Equally Safe, Scotland’s national strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against girls. In November 2017, to ensure that the overarching ambitions of the strategy were rooted in practical delivery that would make a real difference to the lives of women and girls, the Scottish Government published its Equally Safe Delivery Plan which promotes a collaborative approach that recognises the different roles and experience of organisations working in the sector.

One particular Equally Safe Delivery Plan ambition is to strengthen governance arrangements for forensic medical services for victims of rape and sexual assault, to ensure a trauma informed, consistent health care response to those requiring a forensic examination as part of an overall health focussed assessment. The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland chairs a taskforce set up to provide national leadership for the improvement of these services and the Scottish Government recently consulted on legislation to underpin service improvement. The taskforce’s priority is to ensure that all examinations take place in person centred, trauma informed, healthcare surroundings and to improve victim choice about the sex of the healthcare professional involved in their examination.