Dr. Laura Finnegan:

I do not have the figures of how much better things like arrests, prosecutions, or staff generally feeling safer are but I guess the feeling would be that any level of protection behind them gives them that extra feeling of safety when going into work. We find as staff working in these areas that it is very difficult to think about prosecuting someone we may be taking care of. That is very emotive. On one hand one it caring for someone and on the other hand one has been the target of assault. It has been mentioned a couple of times that things like that, such as having that legal protection, takes the onus back off the person who has experienced the assault. It puts it back to being the responsibility of one's employer and the State and takes the responsibility or guilt away from the person who experiences the assault.