Former BBC DJ Jimmy Savile sexually assaulted NHS hospital patients aged between five and 75 over a period of five decades, say investigators.
Savile is reported to have abused patients at 28 different NHS hospitals, including Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, when he had unsupervised access to vulnerable and ‘at risk’ people on the wards.
Investigators heard consistent stories of “verbal, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of Savile” from 60 people aged between five and 75 at Leeds General Infirmary and 11 more at Broadmoor, with the veteran DJ taking advantage of his celebrity status to gain unsupervised access to patients.
Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health Una O’Brien today said:
“Today’s reports detail the depraved activities of Jimmy Savile and make for shocking reading.
“On behalf of the previous Department of Health and Social Security, and Department of Health, we are deeply sorry that inadequate processes in 1988 enabled Jimmy Savile to occupy a position of authority that he used to abuse his victims at Broadmoor Hospital.
“The Department of Health accepts that the procedures in 1988 were wholly inadequate for checking whether Jimmy Savile was a suitable person to be given a managerial role.”
She concluded:
“While much has changed in the intervening years we will leave no stone unturned to make sure such appalling actions can never be repeated; our thoughts today are with the people who suffered and continue to suffer from these terrible crimes.”
NHS investigation reports
- Leeds General Infirmary (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust)
- Broadmoor Hospital (West London Mental Health NHS Trust and Department of Health)
- St Catherine’s Hospital Birkenhead (Wirral Community NHS Trust)
- Saxondale Hospital (Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust)
- Portsmouth Hospital (Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust)
- Dewsbury and District Hospital (including Pinderfields Hospital) (Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust)
- High Royds Psychiatric Hospital (Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust)
- Wheatfields Hospice (Sue Ryder – non-NHS)
- Cardiff Royal Infirmary (Cardiff and Vale University Health Board)
- Great Ormond Street Hospital(Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust)
- Exeter Hospital
- Ashworth Hospital(Mersey Care NHS Trust)
- Barnet General Hospital(Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust)
- Booth Hall(Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
- De La Pole Hospital (Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust)
- Dryburn Hospital (County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust)
- Hammersmith Hospital (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust)
- Leavesden Secure Mental Health Hospital (Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust)
- Marsden Hospital (Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust)
- Maudsley Hospital (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust)
- Odstock Hospital (Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust)
- Prestwich Psychiatric Hospital (Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust)
- Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead (Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
- Royal Victoria Infirmary (Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
- Queen Mary’s Hospital (Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust)
- Whitby Memorial Hospital (York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
- Wythenshawe Hospital (University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust)
- Woodhouse Eaves Children’s Convalescent Home (University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust)
