Online training tackles sexual abuse

Efforts to combat sexual abuse could be boosted by new training to help UK medical staff spot tell-tale signs in their patients, reveals UKPA.

The course has been developed by the University of Ulster, working with the Royal College of Physicians in London.

Former police officer Jim Gamble, who led a unit tracking sex offenders, said greater awareness among health professionals could help increase convictions. Nurses, midwives, health visitors, forensic physicians and family doctors could benefit from the training.

Dr Tara Moore from the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, based at Ulster's Coleraine campus, teamed up with the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians in London, and experts in the field to develop the courses called 'Sexual Offences E-Learning, reports 4ni.co.uk.

Says Moore: “If we can help professionals in contact with possible victims identify abuse and facilitate victims to go ahead with a successful prosecution, this can prevent a lifetime of abuse of the child and potentially abuse of many others by the assailant.”

According to the University of Ulster, the initiative has been funded by the British government's Department of Health as part of its response to last year's 'Taskforce on the Health Aspects of Violence Against Women and Children' and went live online on 1 April.