There has been a call to allow rural doctors to provide courtroom evidence by video link in cases of rape and sexual assault to address a shortage of doctors willing to get involved in sexual assault treatment services.
Dr Mary McCaffrey, consultant obstetrician/gynaecol- ogist at Tralee General Hospital, and the Southern Health Board's only female consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist in the public service, said the reason many doctors refused to get involved in specialised forensic examinations was the length of time they had to spend away from their work when the legal cases were being heard.
Many rape cases were now heard in Dublin and doctors found themselves losing days away from busy call schedules, she said.
At the same time, research clearly demonstrated that conviction rates improved in rape cases when the examinations of victims were carried out by specifically trained personnel.
There are only four sexual assault units operational in Ireland at present, in Dublin, Cork, Tralee and Letterkenny. An attempt to provide a full sexual assault service in Tralee is being hampered by a lack of suitably trained GPs willing to participate in an on-call rota system.
Dr McCaffrey said the issue of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) should be speeded up. Such a system was already common in the US, Australia and SANE nurses were in practice in Manchester in the UK. The issue of SANE was being mooted in Dublin, Dr McCaffrey said.
"But it is much more necessary in rural areas than in Dublin," she said.