The Hospital Clínic is the referral centre for the A&E Department treatment of victims of sexual assault over 16 years of age in the city of Barcelona. The report with all the data on sexual assaults treated in the A&E Department last year was drawn up by the Committee on Domestic and Gender Violence.
The report concluded that 90% of the victims were women and 100% of the assaults were committed by male aggressors. 52% of the assaults were on people under the age of 25. The youngest victim was 16 years old and the oldest was 82. With regard to the day they were treated in the A&E Department, 68% of them arrived on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. 58.3% of the women were raped.
It can be seen that the time that passes between when the sexual assault is committed and the victim’s arrival in the A&E Department has improved, since 66% of the assaults were treated less than 24 hours after the assault (last year it was 40%) and 81% of the assaults were treated within 72 hours (last year it was 54.7%).
The report also shows the place where the assault occurred. A home continues to be the place where most of these assaults are committed. 44.3% of the assaults on women were perpetrated in a home, whilst 16.5% of the assaults occurred in nightlife venues (in the bathrooms of discotheques, bars, etc.). The data also show that assaults perpetrated by more than one aggressor (group assaults) remained at around 10%.
The Hospital Clínic continues to work to improve care, despite the increase in cases, and reaffirms its commitment to its comprehensive model of care for sexual violence. It is a health care model that involves the A&E Department and monitoring. A multidisciplinary team with different professionals and levels of care carries out this treatment and guarantees that the focus is placed on the victim. The Hospital Clínic strives to offer a comprehensive model of care centred on support, treatment and attention to the victim’s health needs, which also facilitates the criminal legal process with respect in decisions and avoiding secondary revictimization.
