Department of Health and Social Care
 Printable version
|
 E-mail this to a friend
|
HEALTH AND PUBLIC SECTOR PROFESSIONALS TO HELP IMPROVE HEALTH SERVICES FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Health and public sector professionals are being asked for their views on how the NHS can improve its services for women and girls who have been victims of violence and sexual assault, Health Minister Ann Keen announced today.
Each year, across the UK, 3 million women experience violence including domestic violence, sexual violence, forced marriage and trafficking. The Taskforce on the health aspects of violence against women and girls is holding a month long in a listening exercise to collect feedback from health and other public sector professionals.
Health Minister Ann Keen said;
“Almost one in three women will experience domestic violence at some point during their lives and nearly one in four will experience some form of sexual assault. Furthermore, more than a third of all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under 16 years of age.
“We know that victims of violence can find it easier to seek help from trusted health professionals and that is why we want health and public sector professionals to tell us what they think of the service provided by the NHS and how it might be improved.
“This will form a valuable contribution to a cross-Government strategy, to be published later this year, which aims to ensure that all frontline services work closely together to reduce violence against women and girls and provide the best possible support to victims.”
Health and public sector professionals will be asked for their views on areas including:
· Service delivery - early identification, access to healthcare services, staff awareness and attitudes maximising NHS resources
· Service commissioning – needs assessment, NHS commissioning, joint commissioning, commissioning from non-NHS providers
· Partnership working – information sharing, service level agreements and protocols, collaborative service delivery
Health and public sector professionals should go to www.dh.gov.uk/vawg to register their views by the 14 October 2009.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. Health and public sector professionals’ comments will help to inform the Taskforce’s recommendations, which will in turn feed into the strategy, ‘Together we can End Violence Against Women.’
2. The consultation will be for all healthcare staff, whether directly involved in the delivery of healthcare services (eg frontline staff such as nurses, GPs, midwives and ambulance workers) or involved in managing or commissioning NHS services. We would also like to gather views from others who work in partnership with NHS services, such as police or teachers, and from individuals who work in organisations that provide support services for victims of violence on behalf of the NHS, such as third sector organisations.
3. The Taskforce is chaired by Professor Sir George Alberti, and was announced by Alan Johnson and Jacqui Smith, then Health and Home Secretaries, on 13 May 2009, in response to issues raised during the Home Office consultation ‘Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls’. The Taskforce has been set up to identify the role and response of health services in preventing, identifying and supporting women and girls who are victims of violence and abuse, and to make recommendations on what more could be done to meet their needs.
4. The work of the Taskforce will be shaped by a Steering Group, which will oversee work carried out in four specialist Sub-groups, covering domestic violence, sexual violence against women, sexual violence against children and harmful traditional practices, including forced marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM) and honour-based violence; and human trafficking.
5. The Taskforce is expected to deliver interim findings by late October, to feed into the Government’s overall strategy on violence against women and girls (due to be published in November) and a report with full recommendations early in the New Year.
6. For media enquiries only contact the Department of Health Media Centre on tel: 7210 5221
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk
