Health services are on the frontline. Are you ready to spot the signs?

  • 80% of women in a violent relationship seek help from health services, often their first or only point of contact (Department of Health).
  • More women survivors of domestic abuse seek help from healthcare services than from the police (Domestic Abuse Commissioner, 2023).
  • Domestic abuse costs the UK £66 billion every year, including £2.3 billion to health services alone. The most significant cost is the physical and emotional harm to victims, estimated at £47 billion (Home Office, 2019).
  • In 2023–24, 2.3 million adults in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse — 6.6 % of women and 3.0 % of men (ONS).
  • A STADA review of domestic homicide and suicide cases found that 89 % included recommendations for health services, including calls for better training, documentation and multi-agency coordination.
  • Three women a week die as a result of domestic abuse, and survivors are twice as likely to experience depression, anxiety and chronic health conditions (Refuge).

We make it possible for healthcare to respond when it matters most.

IRISi develops national programmes that embed specialist domestic abuse support into everyday healthcare settings.

IRIS and ADViSE don’t sit on the edges; they’re built from within. Our programmes integrate into the real world of primary care, designed to be trusted by clinicians and shaped by survivors.

Clinicians trained through IRIS and ADViSE are equipped to recognise and support all survivors, including those at medium and lower risk, who might otherwise go unseen or unheard by other services.

That’s why IRISi exists:

By March 2024, over 44,000 survivors had been identified and supported through our programmes.

 

Find out more

IRISi delivers what survivors need — and what the system can’t afford to lose

  • Most victims of domestic abuse won’t go to the police, but they will see a clinician. Without specialist training and interventions, many are missed.
  • We turn ambition into action. IRISi transforms evidence into system change, embedding specialist domestic abuse support into NHS settings with built-in infrastructure, governance, and quality.
  • GP practices with IRIS are 30 times more likely to refer patients to specialist support.
  • The return is proven. IRIS is 4.8 times more cost-effective than the flu jab, delivering up to £16.79 for every £1 invested.
  • Survivors say it changed their lives. 97% felt listened to, and 91% felt safer after support through IRIS — showing the model doesn’t just identify abuse; it helps people recover.

Success Stories

“Since the training we have been able to pick up more cases and have been able to help women who had previously been unable to talk about their abuse. We are also more able to asses risk for the women and their children”IRIS GP

What's the latest from IRISi

12.09.2025
IRISi and Sutton Women’s Centre launch a pilot training health visitors to identify domestic abuse, support disclosures and connect families to help.

Identifying Domestic Abuse with Health Visitors (iDAHV): IRISi launches a pilot programme with health visitors in Sutton to identify and respond to domestic abuse

IRISi and Sutton Women’s Centre launch a pilot training health visitors to identify domestic abuse, support disclosures and connect families to help.

Read more
09.09.2025
IRIS in Wales: a decade of success at risk after health boards cut funding

IRIS in Wales: a success story, now sadly stalled

IRIS transformed healthcare’s response to domestic abuse in Wales, reaching thousands of survivors and easing pressure on frontline services. Despite a decade of proven success, funding cuts have dismantled the programme in over half...

Read more
04.09.2025
IRISi expands internationally with IRIS-K in Kenya, training healthcare professionals to identify domestic abuse and connect women with support.

IRISi launches IRIS-K in Kenya

IRISi expands internationally with IRIS-K in Kenya, training healthcare professionals to identify domestic abuse and connect women with support.

Read more
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Partners

AVA
AVA
AVA

AVA is an expert, groundbreaking and independent charity working across the UK.

Their vision is a world without gender based violence and abuse. They aim to  inspire innovation and collaboration and encourage and enable direct service providers to help end gender based violence and abuse particularly against women and girls.AVA’s work is focused around those areas where they can make the best contribution to ending violence and abuse. They do this by making sure that survivors get the help and support they need in the here and now, through providing innovative training that has a proven direct impact on the professional practice of people supporting survivors of violence and abuse

developing a range of toolkits, e-learning and other material that supports professionals to provide effective and appropriate support to survivors of violence and abuse

using our influence and networks to ensure survivors voices are heard. We work closely with AVA in many areas including the Pathfinder project

https://avaproject.org.uk

SafeLives
SafeLives
SafeLives

SafeLives are a national charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, for good. We combine insight from services, survivors and statistics to support people to become safe, well and rebuild their lives. Since 2005, SafeLives has worked with organisations across the country to transform the response to domestic abuse, with over 60,000 victims at highest risk of murder or serious harm now receiving co-ordinated support annually. SafeLives are members of the Pathfinder consortium.

http://www.safelives.org.uk/about-us

IMKAAN
IMKAAN
IMKAAN

Imkaan is a UK-based, Black feminist organisation. We are the only national second-tier women’s organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls i.e. women and girls which are defined in policy terms as Black and ‘Minority Ethnic’ (BME). The organisation holds nearly two decades of experience of working around issues such as domestic violence, forced marriage and ‘honour-based’ violence.

They work at local, national and international level, and in partnership with a range of organisations, to improve policy and practice responses to Black and minoritised women and girls. Imkaan works with it’s members to represent the expertise and perspectives of frontline, specialist and dedicated Black and minoritised women’s organisations that work to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Imkaan delivers a unique package of support which includes: quality assurance; accredited training and peer education; sustainability support to frontline Black and minoritised organisations; and facilitation of space for community engagement and development. They are a part of the Pathfinder Consortium.

https://www.imkaan.org.uk

The University of Bristol CAPC
The University of Bristol CAPC
The University of Bristol CAPC

The Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC) is a leading centre for primary care research in the UK, one of nine forming the NIHR School for Primary Care Research.  It is part of Bristol Medical School, an internationally recognised centre of excellence for population health research and teaching.

A dedicated team of researchers at the Centre work on domestic abuse projects and IRISi is a co-collaborator and partner on some of these projects including ReProvide, HERA and DRiDVA.

The Health Foundation
The Health Foundation
The Health Foundation

The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK. The Health Foundation’s Exploring Social Franchising programme aims to generate a deeper understanding of the potential of social franchising models for scaling effective health and social care interventions within the NHS.

We are one of four project teams participating in the programme to develop a social franchise to enable the sustainable spread of our intervention, the IRIS Programme. We receive funding and support from the Health Foundation, including technical expertise on social franchising, and attend programme learning events. The Health Foundation has also commissioned a programme-wide evaluation to support understanding of the use of social franchising in the UK health and care system. We and our franchisees will support the evaluation through co-designing data collection requirements, providing access to data as requested, hosting site visits and attending learning events.

https://www.health.org.uk

STADV
STADV
STADV

Standing Together Against Domestic Violence is a UK charity bringing communities together to end domestic abuse. They bring local services together to keep people safe

Most public services weren’t designed with domestic abuse in mind, and they often struggle to keep people safe. Poor communication and gaps between services put survivors at risk.

STADV aim to end domestic abuse by changing the way that local services respond to it. They do this through an approach that they pioneered, called the Coordinated Community Response. The Coordinated Community Response brings services together to ensure local systems truly keep survivors safe, hold abusers to account, and prevent domestic abuse.

Their model of a coordinated local partnership to tackle and ultimately prevent domestic violence is now widely accepted as best practice. They are also a part of the Pathfinder consortium.

http://www.standingtogether.org.uk

Spring Impact
Spring Impact
Spring Impact

Spring Impact is a not-for-profit social enterprise born out of the frustration of seeing social organisations constantly reinventing the wheel and wasting scarce resources. Spring Impact uses a combination of tested commercial and social principles and extensive practical expertise to support organisations to identify, design and implement the right social replication model to scale their social impact.

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