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Cash shortfall for rape and assault centre
Financial hole: The SAFE Centre, based at the Royal Preston Hospital, is facing cash turmoil.
Victims of rape and sexual assault will be treated the same way as people being treated for sexually transmitted infections when it comes to funding, it was revealed today.
A funding row between the police and health chiefs over who should pay for the running costs of the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) Centre based at the Royal Preston Hospital, has been resolved according to sources, but to the detriment of services.
The Evening Post revealed how the future of the flagship centre was in jeopardy after police and health bosses became embroiled in a funding row over who was responsible for paying for the centre’s services.
The centre - paid for by millionaire leisure tycoon Trevor Hemmings - opened in 2002 and offers examination, counselling and support services for men, women and children from as young as 18 months to as old as 89.
Up until now, Lancashire Police has met all the running costs at the unit, while Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust paid for the maintenance costs of the building.
However, Lancashire Police believe the healthcare costs at the centre should be met by primary care trusts and say they will carry on funding police costs such as forensic examinations, but that PCTS should now take over the health associated funding.
Now it has emerged that PCT chiefs have agreed to meet the health costs at the centre - but only on a per patient basis, treating the funding for rape and sexual assault victims in the same way as patients visiting Preston’s GUM clinic, where people are screened and treated for sexually transmitted infections.
One senior unamed source at the SAFE Centre said: “The police used to pay for all the costs at the SAFE centre, except for the building’s maintenance, but because of financial pressures, they say medical care should be provided and paid for by PCTs.
“After a lot of debate and looking at a number of proposals, the PCT have decided to fund it on a Payment By Results tariff, equivalent to a patient visiting the GUM clinic. This means they will pay the same funding for seeing a rape of sexual abuse victim as they would for someone wanting to be tested for a sexually transmitted infection.
“This will leave the SAFE Centre with a £78,000 a year shortfall in the funding needed to run the centre.
“This new way of funding will also mean that the centre will be paid per patient, so the less victims of rape and sexual abuse that they see, the less money they will get.”
Last month the Evening Post revealed the SAFE Centre’s sole counsellor is being made redundant and now it has emerged that the centre’s full-time manager is having her hours cut to three days a week. The whole service has been stripped down to a skeleton staff and there just isn’t enough staff to provide the quality of service we would like to to vulnerable victims of rape and sexual assault.
In a joint statement, Lancashire Constabulary and the PCT said: “We recognise that the Safe Centre is a really important service and we are currently in discussions about future funding arrangements for it. No decision has been made yet but will be made soon.”
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Weather for Preston
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -4 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 2 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
