Source: The Conversation – UK
Dragana Gordic/Shutterstock Three in five nursing staff and students who responded to a 2021 survey by Nursing Times and Unison said they had experienced sexual harassment at work. For many, it had come to be treated as part of the job.
More recent figures suggest the problem persists.
In the 2025 NHS staff survey for England, 11.36% of registered nurses and midwives said they had experienced at least one incident of unwanted sexual behaviour from patients, service users, visitors, relatives or members of the public in the previous year.
The problem is not confined to one country or type of healthcare setting. Around the world, nurses report sexual comments, intrusive questions, non-consensual touching, intimidation and abuse from colleagues, patients and visitors. Yet sexual harassment remains under-researched and often absent from public conversations about healthcare.
A problem hidden in plain sight Sexual harassment in healthcare can take many forms: a comment about a nurse’s body, repeated advances, sexual jokes or unwanted contact during personal care. Such behaviour is often minimised.
Nurses may be told that a patient “didn’t mean it”, that harassment is “part of the job”, or that it should be expected in certain settings. This can be especially difficult in areas such as mental health or dementia care, where behaviour may sometimes be affected by cognitive impairment, illness or distress.
Illness may help staff understand why something happened. It does not erase the harm caused. Nurses still need protection and proper follow-up. Repeated harassment can affect confidence, wellbeing and willingness to remain in the profession.
More detailed research is needed into how nurses experience and respond to it, and whether organisational policies work in practice. Who is most affected? Gender, ethnicity and workplace hierarchies shape nurses’ experiences. In the UK, almost 90% of professionals on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register are women, and around a third are from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds.
Sexual harassment is shaped by assumptions about who nurses are and what they should tolerate. Nurses are often expected to be caring, patient and self-sacrificing. They are also sexualised in popular culture, from fancy-dress costumes to television dramas.
Nurses may have less power than doctors, senior managers or other professionals. Their work can also involve close physical contact. Neither makes abuse acceptable. Gender, ethnicity, seniority, age, sexuality and area of work can all affect what happens, how seriously it is taken and whether a nurse feels able to report it.
When abuse becomes normalised One of the most worrying features of sexual harassment in healthcare is how easily it can become normalised. Harmful behaviour starts to be seen as ordinary, unavoidable or not worth challenging.
French nurses describe sexual violence in hospitals and the difficulty of challenging behaviour that has too often been treated as part of the job. If a nurse is repeatedly subjected to sexual comments or unwanted touching, colleagues may advise them to “laugh it off”, avoid a particular patient or handle the situation quietly.
Formal reporting can feel risky. Nurses may worry that they will not be believed, that managers will do nothing or that speaking up could damage their career. When incidents are handled informally, the burden falls on individual nurses and the wider culture remains unchanged.
Why current responses fall short Health systems are beginning to take sexual safety more seriously. Since October 2024, employers have had a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From October 2026, the duty is scheduled to be strengthened.
Employers will be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and will have a new obligation not to permit harassment by third parties, including patients and visitors. In England, NHS England, all NHS provider trusts and all integrated care boards have signed a sexual safety charter committing them to a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct.
NHS England has also published a national policy framework to help staff recognise and report sexual misconduct and access support. But discussions can focus heavily on behaviour between colleagues. What should happen when a patient repeatedly makes sexual comments, touches a nurse during care, or is confused, distressed or seriously unwell?
Without clear answers, nurses can be left to manage these situations alone. Listening to nurses Reports such as Surviving in Scrubs have exposed the seriousness of sexual misconduct in healthcare workplaces. More research is needed into nurses’ day-to-day experiences of harassment from patients and visitors.
A recent scoping review found that education and reporting systems are among the most commonly proposed responses to sexual harassment of nurses. Evidence about which interventions work remains limited.
Policies matter, but nurses also need managers who act when incidents are reported, practical support afterwards and working cultures that do not ask staff to absorb abuse in silence.
Elaine Craig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/06/02/the-hidden-assumptions-that-leave-nurses-exposed-to-sexual-harassment/