Understanding concerns
Exploring how patients, professionals and institutions recognise possible sexual harm or boundary violations, including when experiences are uncertain or disclosures are tentative.
RECOGNITION · REPORTING · RESOLUTIONS
Understanding sexual safety in healthcare
Exploring research and practical ideas to prevent sexual harm in healthcare and improve how concerns are heard and addressed.
Safety begins
with being heard.
Patient Sexual Safety develops and shares research-informed ideas for safer healthcare. We explore how concerns are recognised, how they reach an appropriate response, and the different outcomes people may seek. Our proposals are being developed for discussion, testing and evaluation.
Our focus
From disclosure to response
Telling someone, recording a concern, escalating it and entering an appropriate process are different steps. We examine the barriers between them and how systems might respond fairly, without treating an untested concern as proof.
Different needs and outcomes
Personal, therapeutic, healthcare, regulatory, criminal-justice and compensation outcomes may differ or coexist. A formal outcome does not necessarily bring personal resolution, and people may continue to need healthcare throughout.
About the project lead
Patient Sexual Safety is an independent research and system-design project led by Mark Cullen. Mark has a BSc in Human Geography and a Diploma in Social Work (DipSW), with experience including around five years as a local-authority foster carer. His background brings practical experience of safeguarding, disclosure, professional systems and supporting people in vulnerable situations.
The project is evidence-led and is being developed with the intention of seeking further input from people with lived experience and from clinical, safeguarding, regulatory, legal and information-governance specialists.
How this work is developed
The project brings together published research, analysis of existing healthcare and safeguarding systems, critical discussion and proposals for improving practice.
AI tools, including ChatGPT, provide substantial assistance with literature searching, synthesis, drafting and critique. AI-generated material is treated as a working aid rather than evidence in itself. Published sources are checked and distinguished from project interpretations and proposals, and uncertainties are made explicit.
Mark Cullen reviews and approves published project content and takes responsibility for what is published. As the work develops, further specialist and independent review will be sought.
The project’s proposals are being developed for discussion, testing and evaluation. They should not be read as proven interventions or institutionally endorsed recommendations.
Current status
Patient Sexual Safety is at an early research and development stage. Research summaries and proposals will be shared as the work develops.
This website does not currently accept reports or provide individual support.