Reports: NHS Failings Let Savile Abuse Children

A series of damning reports are expected to confirm institutionalised failings which allowed Jimmy Savile to abuse vulnerable children at NHS hospitals.

The long-awaited report from the Department of Health will address the "lessons learned" from the Savile scandal, but is unlikely to lead to managers or staff being held to account for failing to stop his abuse.

A report from Buckinghamshire NHS Trust will focus on his offending at one of Savile's favoured hospitals, Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, the birthplace of the Paralympics.

Sam Brown was one of scores of youngsters abused by Savile at the hospital. Aged 11 she was indecently assaulted by the star in a room adjacent to a chapel at the hospital where mass was being held.

She told Sky News: "He used to put his hand over my face as well quite a lot and sometimes his fingers into my mouth.

"That wasn't to keep me quiet, I know what that meant, that was to reinforce his power 100% over me, I get that.

"He knew he had the back-up from the hospital, I feel, he knew there that they were lenient on anything he had done."

The privileges and access afforded to Savile at Stoke Mandeville included a bedroom in the nurses' accommodation.

Liz Dux, a lawyer who represents many of the victims from Stoke Mandeville, said: "The senior management, the senior staff, knew what was happening.

"We do know victims were told to be quiet with their complaints, because of the good that he was doing.

"What the victims want from today is not just an apology from Jeremy Hunt, but actually some accountability, someone to say yes we did know, it's totally unacceptable that we knew, and to put in place steps to ensure this type of horror can never happen again."

When police officers finally questioned Savile about abuse allegations at the hospital Savile bragged: "The NHS run it, I own it."

His fundraising efforts meant he held similar status at Broadmoor in Berkshire and Leeds General Infirmary.

A report last year into his offending in Leeds found that it stretched from 1962 to 2009 and included 60 people who said they were abused. Their ages ranged from five to 75 years old.

Savile's fascination with the dead was also documented and allegations that he posed for pictures and performed sexual acts in the hospital mortuary were recorded in the Leeds report.

Savile's death in 2011 meant he never faced justice for his crimes.

Today's report into the "lessons learned" will draw together his offending across the NHS and offer evidence that the service is now a vastly different organisation.

Campaigners have said though that until mandatory reporting is introduced to compel staff to report concerns of abuse then children will still be at risk.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to make a statement following publication of the reports.