Identifying and Responding to Sexual Assault and Abuse programme
This elearning programme provides information and advice for identifying and responding to sexual assault and abuse. The resources are aimed at health and care professionals who may be involved in the care of people who have experienced rape, sexual assault and/or abuse.
A sexual assault is any sexual act that a person did not consent to or is forced into against their will. It is a form of sexual violence and includes rape, child sexual abuse and exploitation, or other sexual offences, such as groping, forced kissing or the torture of a person in a sexual manner.
While sexual assault is not uncommon, many who experience abuse do not tell anyone. Sexual assault can have long lasting physical and emotional effects and early intervention and support is recommended.
This programme brings together numerous resources relating to the identification and response to rape, sexual assault and abuse. The programme aims to:
- Increase awareness of all forms of sexual assault (rape, sexual abuse and exploitation) and who is affected by it
- Support health and care professionals to:
- spot the signs of abuse
- understand key aspects of safeguarding relevant to sexual assault in children, adolescents and vulnerable groups
- provide non-judgemental and supportive responses to disclosures of abuse
- Raise awareness of Sexual Assault Referral Centres, which offer forensic, medical, emotional and practical care and advice, as a key service following assault, regardless of whether or not an individual chooses to report the matter to the police.
Learners can access information, view videos and case studies and undertake self-assessments to support learning. The sessions vary in length dependent on the amount of content. It is not expected that learners complete all sessions in one go.
More information
NHS webpages:
Help After Rape and Sexual Assault
CSE: what is child sexual exploitation?
How to spot child sexual exploitation
Find your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre
Additional resources:
CSE guide: Advice for healthcare staff
NHS England’s Strategic Direction for Sexual Assault and Abuse Services
Thank you
We would like to thank the following HEE elfh programme teams who agreed to their sessions being included within this programme:
Partner team details
Joanna Hollinghurst
Head of SARC Services/Associate Director of Nursing (Safeguarding), G4S Health Services
Dr Michelle Cutland
Practice Improvement Advisor Health, Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse
Julie Lloyd
Consultant Psychologist, NHS England and NHS Improvement Survivor and Public Voice Group
Nicola Shannon
SARC Manager, The Bridge Adult and Paediatric Centre of Excellence SARC and NHS England and NHS Improvement Survivor and Public Voice Group
Gillian Finch
Manager, CIS’ters and NHS England and NHS Improvement Survivor and Public Voice Group
Millicent Gant
SARC Manager, Leicestershire Police
National Sexual Assault and Abuse Programme Team, NHS England and NHS Improvement
HEE elfh team details
Patricia Howe
Programme Manager and Evaluation Lead, HEE elearning for healthcare
Frankie O’Brien
Project Manager and Evaluation Lead, HEE elearning for healthcare
Jo Bloom
Learning Designer, HEE elearning for healthcare
Jasmine Deol
Learning Designer, HEE elearning for healthcare
Alex Drinkall
Stakeholder and Engagement Lead, Health Education England Technology Enhanced Learning
How to access
In order to access the Identifying and Responding to Sexual Assault and Abuse programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
To view the Identifying and Responding to Sexual Assault and Abuse programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.
NHS healthcare staff in England
The Identifying and Responding to Sexual Assault and Abuse programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this elearning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.
Further details are available here.
Not an NHS organisation?
If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.
To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.
Registering large numbers of users
If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Identifying and Responding to Sexual Assault and Abuse programme, please contact elfh directly.
Organisations wishing to use their own LMS
For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.
More information
Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.