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It is impossible to tell the story of IRIS without mentioning one of the first sites to ever deliver the programme. Hackney held its first training sessions in 2007, alongside Bristol, right after the Health Foundation awarded funding for a randomised controlled trial of the initiative in both areas. In the trial, 24 practices received the IRIS programme and a further 24 practices were controls and did not receive the intervention.

The primary outcome measure was the recorded referral of patients to named advocates based in specialist Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) agencies. Secondary outcome measures included disclosure of DVA recorded in patient records. After the trial, there were no doubts about how efficient the IRIS Programme was: women attending the intervention practices were 22.1 times more likely than those attending the control practices to have a discussion with their clinician about a referral to an Advocate Educator (AE), which resulted in them being six times more likely to be referred to the AE. At the same time, women attending the intervention practices were also 3.1 times more likely to have a recorded identification of DVA in their medical records.

Despite the great results, the IRIS Programme almost didn’t progress to the implementation phase since the Primary Care Trust at the time had not agreed to fund the project. Thankfully, they decided to keep running the initiative, which allowed 40 General Practices teams to be trained in how to identify and respond to DVA. As a result, between 2014 and 2021, over 900 women from Hackney were recognised, referred into, and assisted by the IRIS Programme in partnership with the nia project, as explained below by Emma Mc Manus*, Senior IRIS Advocate Educator from nia.

How did you first get the IRIS programme to Hackney? Could you tell me a little bit more about this trajectory?

IRIS is an evidence-based model developed through research led by Bristol University with nia in Hackney and Next Link in Bristol hosting the original AEs in the two trial sites (2007 – 2010). nia continued to be part of both the development work of the IRIS model after the trial and the national steering group until the launch of IRISi as an independent social enterprise in February 2017. The new organisation has a separate governing body and ends nia’s formal involvement with the work of IRIS nationally.

The IRIS programme locally provides an evidence-based domestic violence and abuse training, support and referral programme to 40 Hackney GP practices. IRIS City and Hackney is staffed by two full-time AEs, one of whom is a Senior AE leading on the engagement and training of GP practices. The service also works in partnership with a local clinical lead. nia was re-awarded the IRIS City and Hackney contract in 2016 following a competitive tendering process.

How has the IRIS programme helped you to improve the response to domestic violence and abuse in Hackney?

Most women will access their GP surgeries at some point; therefore, I think IRIS provides a vital opportunity to train GPs so they are equipped to ask women about domestic abuse in a safe and confidential space. The IRIS programme has educated me on the correlation between health and domestic abuse, and how essential it is in understanding those links in a healthcare setting, and an appropriate intervention offered. It also reassures women that their GP surgeries are places that they can go to for help and support. Domestic Violence and Abuse is a public health issue and should be prioritised as such. I think a lot of women would end up without support if not for their GPs making a referral to IRIS, as there may be no other place for them to go to and talk about what’s going on. We have come across some cases where a GP appointment is the only appointment a woman is ‘allowed’ to attend on her own, and without the abusive partner.

How was your experience in delivering the IRIS programme until now?

Having joined nia at the height of the pandemic, all of my experience has come from remote training, and I have found the training package to be really well put together. The revised webinar training package seems to offer a really accessible opportunity for clinical, administration and reception staff at practices to attend, consequently, we have observed increased levels of engagement in training and higher numbers able to access IRIS training. During 2021, quarter one, we delivered IRIS training to 91 professionals – the highest number trained in one quarter to date. I think that’s fantastic as it means the more professionals that are trained, the more referrals we receive, meaning women are being offered specialist support through an evidence-based pathway.

What are the most challenging and most satisfying aspects of delivering the IRIS programme for you?

The most challenging aspect of delivering IRIS is when practices do not engage! Though with the help of the clinical lead and colleagues, we continue to promote IRIS and highlight that continued engagement from general practice teams plays a crucial role in preventing homicides, as evidenced in the Domestic Homicide Review Case Analysis (Standing Together and London Metropolitan University 2016).

The most satisfying parts of the job have been observing an increased interest in the IRIS training from general practice teams at practices, and this offers hope, and demonstrates a commitment from practices to recognise the links between health and domestic violence, and to take action at a time when nationally rates of domestic violence and abuse have soared. Alongside this, our referrals have also increased, reflecting the national patterns.

We have also received some fantastic feedback from clinicians and staff on the training which is always reassuring to hear. As well as this, we have received some very touching feedback from clients themselves which I think shows us that our work is benefiting our clients in a positive and meaningful way.

Site of the Month: Hackney

  • Launch date: September 2007.
  • Specialist Partner organisation: the nia project.
  • Practices trained: 40 practices trained to date.
  • Women referred by year:
    • 2014/2015 = 151
    • 2015/2016 = 187
    • 2016/2017 = 152
    • 2017/2018 = 171
    • 2018/2019 = 100
    • 2019/2020 = 126
    • 2020/2021 = 160

Service user’s feedback

“It cannot be underestimated what a lifeline nia’s IRIS Advocate Educator service has been for me – and by extension – my son. Without their ongoing commitment and dedicated input, I fear that there may have been a very different outcome for my son and me. Instead, they have prevented us from being isolated, given me courage and offered us hope.”

“Without this support, I would have been completely isolated, especially because friends, family and non-specialist professionals either drop away or offer misguided or damaging commentary.”

“AE’s support was the best I got from this horrendous experience. She made me feel safe, secure, protected, and well looked after. I have not words to describe how well I felt knowing that she was supporting me through with all this situation and not only to me but also to my children as well and therefore I be always thankful for that.”

“You all are doing an amazing job making people who goes through these experiences know that they are not alone.”


Clinicians’ feedback

“A highly relevant and well-organised presentation. The slides and video were designed to maximize the impact and will be memorable and therefore useful when faced with potential DVA incidents and cases. It is highly relevant to have this presentation given the increased risk of DVA during Covid lockdown and as we come out of the restrictions.”

“This session helped me reflect on my own and my team’s knowledge and hopefully will lead to more professional curiosity and asking about how things are at home when consulting.”

“Beautifully presented, very clear, good flow, good response to audience’s questions and comments. Really helpful thank you!”

“Very approachable trainer which makes all the difference to how one engages with the training. Thank you.”

*In collaboration with Head of Operations Caroline Murphy.

Do you want to see your site on our website? Then, email Geisa D’avo, IRISi’s comms and marketing manager, at geisa.davo@irisi.org.

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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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