In response to today’s government announcement about a new national initiative called Steps to Safety that will involve GP surgeries being better equipped to identify and respond to domestic abuse and sexual violence, IRISi’s Chief Executive, Medina Johnson, said:
“It is promising to hear from the government that there will be a new national NHS initiative to ensure there are dedicated referral services for women and girls affected by violence and abuse in every area of England by 2029. However, as the only national specialist charity working with health and gender-based violence, we urge the government to ensure that the offer provided through the Steps to Safety scheme, which will be available to GP practice staff in all regions so they can better identify and respond to domestic abuse and sexual violence, is evidence-based and measurable. Training cannot stand alone and responses need to include a referral pathway to specialist services for victims and survivors.
We know from our two decades of working with domestic abuse and health what is most effective and how you can demonstrate impact. If the government want to achieve their aim of halving violence against women and girls in a decade, they will need to have guidelines for the NHS on this project to ensure that all training is high-quality, consistent and has clear, evaluated outcomes to show the difference that the government investment is making.
At IRISi, we provide expert advice and consultancy in the field of gender-based violence and health, whilst scaling our evidence-based commissionable programmes across the country. We do this in partnership with health care professionals and women and girls affected by violence and abuse. We also work with academic colleagues to develop innovative new evidence-based solutions, so are well-placed to input on this. We share sector colleagues’ concerns that this work needs to be wider than GP surgeries and needs rolling out throughout the whole of the health service, and hope to share our knowledge and learning with government as this work develops. As experts in this area, we welcome the leadership of Jess Asato MP – who worked for a national domestic abuse charity before becoming an MP – as the new Violence Against Women and Girls Adviser for Health in ensuring high standards and accountability as the Steps to Safety project is rolled out in the new year.”
