Scotland's first round-the-clock support centre for sex-attack victims was officially launched yesterday.
The Archway centre in Glasgow offers treatment and advice to anyone over 13 who has been sexually assaulted in the previous seven days.
The service has been backed by Elish Angiolini, Scotland's top law officer, who said the early-stage support the project offers could encourage more victims to report assault.
While the number of reported rapes has risen in recent years, statistics from Rape Crisis suggest that, with less than 4% resulting in convictions, coupled with a harrowing legal ordeal, nearly two-thirds of rapes still go unreported.
Among the services offered at the new £1.6m centre is the option of storing the findings of forensic tests - to give victims time to decide whether to involve the police.
The service also offers follow-up testing for sexually transmitted infections.
Staffed by doctors, nurses and support workers, the centre is run by the NHS in Glasgow, police, the city council, the Crown Office and voluntary bodies.
Archway, which has seen 139 victims since April, has been operating round the clock, seven days a week, since early October.
So far, one-third of users have contacted the centre directly without first going to the police.
The service was formally launched by Stewart Maxwell, Communities Minister, and supported by the Lord Advocate.
According to Ms Angiolini, facilities such as the Archway, which also offer a 24-hour procurator-fiscal service, signal a new era in support for victims. She said: "For too long there existed an attitude that, with the victim having come forward, they should uncomplainingly put themselves through whatever procedures were necessary for the professional services to gather evidence for the pro secution.
"The victim was expected to fit in with the system, and the system was too often oblivious to, or unwilling to, make allowances for the needs of the complainer and the trauma they were suffering."
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