THE chief officer of a Worcester-based rape and sexual abuse support centre says she is 'heartbroken' after having to turn people away due to funding cuts.

Jocelyn Anderson announced on Wednesday that the West Mercia Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre is no longer able to accept new survivors due to a 'severe lack of funding.'

Ms Anderson added: "I genuinely do not know where people will go for help now – we are the only specialist sexual violence support centre in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It is heartbreaking to turn people away but we really do not have a choice.

"It is very worrying, we know that many people who have experienced rape or any other form of sexual violence are extremely vulnerable, many express suicidal thoughts and they need and deserve long term specialist support."

Last year the service supported people over 2,300 survivors face-to-face and received over 1,700 new referrals.

Ms Anderson said they had had to close due to the long waiting list.

As at May 31 there were  435 people waiting for counselling and average around 60 new referrals per month to the counselling service alone, women, men, children and their families who need support to come to terms with what has happened to them.

She said: "The therapy service is at breaking point now which is why we have decided to close the waiting list but we will continue to work with everyone that is currently in service and on the waiting list.

"We have cut our services to the bone, but can no longer ethically continue to accept clients on to the list.

"The counselling service is funded primarily through the Rape Support fund which comes from the Ministry of Justice and, outside of this is reliant upon charitable donations.

"We simply do not have enough funding to support the volume of clients being referred in to us which is why, when so many come through health and social services it is difficult to understand why we do not receive any funding from any local authority or local health agency.

She added: “This has been a very difficult decision to make.

"Sexual Violence impacts 1 in 5 women, 1 in 8 men and 1 in 20 children. Survivors need access to early intervention by trained sexual violence specialists.

“We provide a first-class mental health service for survivors of sexual violence and abuse from the age of five years old. However, we do not have the funds to meet the high demand. Adult survivors are waiting in the region of 18 months to access counselling support.

"This is unacceptable and it is simply not ethical for us to take on any more referrals when the current waiting list is already so long.

"Most referrals into WMRSASC come from the NHS, GPs, social care and the police. However outside of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, WMRSASC does not receive any local statutory funding.

“If we had long term, sustainable funding at appropriate levels, we would be able to dedicate our time to providing the much-needed support that our clients need and deserve.

"Instead, we waste time scrabbling for funding, arguing for longer-term funding settlements and are unable to make long-term decisions about how to develop our service because we never know where next year’s money is coming from.

“If anyone reading this would like to support our work, we would be very happy to speak to them.”