Domestic violence guidance

The UNISON public services union has responded to a call by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for greater awareness of domestic violence and abuse.

The union’s assistant general secretary Karen Jennings said: “Domestic violence by definition often happens behind closed doors and sadly remins an under-reported crime.”

Jennings was commenting on the publication by NICE last month of Domestic violence and abuse — how services can respond effectively.

The guidance aims to help identify, prevent and reduce domestic violence and abuse. And it sets out how health and social care services and organisations can effectively respond to the problem.

NICE described its recommendations as a “wake-up call” to a “significant problem”, pointing out that each year, at least 1.2 million women and 784,000 men in England and Wales experience domestic violence. These figures are likely to underestimate the problem due to under-reporting.

The health watchdog says that health professionals need training to help them ask about abuse, and the guidance calls for greater cooperation between various agencies such as the police, health service providers, schools and housing services.

Jennings said that UNISON welcomed the new guidance. But, she warned, “the response will only be effective if the right support is in place. Government cuts to public services mean that many refuges have had to close or reduce their number of safe places.”

http://guidance.nice.org.uk/PH50