Senior Nurse Fiona McCulloch and Senior Charge Nurse Jenny Brown from the Tayside Sexual Assault Response Coordination Service (SARCS) were honoured to be amongst those invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace earlier this month. They were recognised for their phenomenal work with survivors of rape and sexual assault.
SARCS is a dedicated service for people who have experienced recent rape or sexual assault; it offers healthcare and support after an assault. The SARCS Network works in partnership to support the delivery of coordinated, holistic, person-centred, trauma-informed healthcare and forensic medical services in Scotland, for people over 16 who have experienced rape, sexual assault, including access to health and wellbeing support to aid recovery.
The reception also relaunched Her Majesty’s Wash Bags project, which was set up to provide essential products to survivors of rape and sexual assault. These wash bags have proven a vital gesture of comfort during a highly distressing time for survivors given that they’re unable to change clothes or wash prior to a forensic medical examination.
Jillian Galloway, Chief Officer, Angus Health and Social Care Partnership who is responsible for the SARCS service said, “The SARCS team undertake such valuable and important work and I am so pleased that Fiona and Jenny represented Tayside at this prestigious event.”
If you have been raped or sexually assaulted within the last 7 days and do not want to tell the police or are unsure about telling them now – you can self-refer to a SARCS. This means you don’t need a GP or other healthcare professional to refer you to a SARCS – you can do this yourself. You can phone NHS 24 on 111, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and speak to a specially trained healthcare professional who can help to arrange the care you might need.
