To: Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and the HSE
Fund a 24/7 Sexual Assault Treatment Unit for the Mid-west NOW
Six counties in Ireland have a 24/7 Sexual Assault Treatment Unit.
The Midwest still doesn't.
WE NEED YOUR HELP to show how important this issue is to people in the region…
…PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION if you agree that survivors in the Midwest deserve access to a full SATU service – the same service the rest of the country already has.
Why is this important?
A SATU centre provides care for sexual assault victims all under one roof - medical and psychological care, preventative health care and forensic examination WITHOUT a requirement to officially report a crime, because that is an individual choice.
In the Midwest, victims of sexual assault can only access forensic exams and crucial medical support after making a report to the Gardaí - and only when the SATU-substitute clinic is open, that is out of hours 7pm-7am Monday to Friday and during weekends. Imagine not being ready to report and then having to travel to Cork or Galway without showering or changing your clothes as it could destroy the evidence! Or being at the Gardaí station in those same clothes and waiting for the clinic to open.
Despite public calls for this outrageous gap in healthcare to be filled, the 2027 budget has yet again forsaken survivors of sexual assault in the Midwest.
This is simply unacceptable.
We don’t need more research, debate or waiting around - we need the HSE to take long-overdue action.
We're urging Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and the HSE to make a fully funded, 24/7 SATU for the Midwest happen.
Not later, now.
