By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent
Children in NHS hospitals are still at risk from abusers like Savile unless the law is changed, a pressure group has said.
Tom Perry, a survivor of abuse himself and founder of the group Mandate Now, has explained to Sky News why laws compelling staff to report concerns of abuse must be introduced.
He believes Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire was no different to other institutions around the UK where Savile abused vulnerable children - the thing they all had in common was that staff never had the proper legal backing to speak out.
Mr Perry said: "He operated up and down the country, just look at the number of allegations.
"These places are petri dishes for abuse, they are petri dishes, you have got a target rich environment, kids who sometimes can't move because of illness ... this is a nirvana for someone like Savile.
"It couldn't have been stopped in my opinion, the culture is not there.
"The first rule in life is self preservation, why would anybody speak? Staff always have a choice but it is an incredibly challenging choice.
"They have to go off piste, they have to become rogue to report, by definition in law they are whistleblowers without any protection."
Home Secretary Theresa May has previously confirmed that the Government is examining the case for possible changes in the law, but also warned that it is "a complex issue".
Mr Perry believes the fundamental change should be simple.
He said: "We want a law that requires staff to report allegations to their line manager, these can be concerns, which is otherwise known as early intervention.
"We want them to be legally supported to do that, so in other words that is law.
"If you fail to do it there will be consequences because that cuts away many of the things that stop reports being made.
"It puts the management of the institution and the staff on the same side of the fence and what that will do is introduce culture change, it is a little bit like drink driving or seat belts.
"For decades the Government was advertising saying 'wear seat belts' but nobody took any notice, it was a value judgement. This is a value judgement, once they introduced seat belts guess what happened?"
Mr Perry accepts that attitudes to safeguarding of children have now been transformed but the lack of mandatory reporting, in his view, still means children are at a greater risk than they need to be.
He added: "No law has been introduced, everything is done on a whim, everything is done on a whim and on discretionary reporting.
"You should report, that is as strong as it gets."
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