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<p>Progress continues to be made by the health sector against all three of these actions
in the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Action Plan.</p><p> </p><p>On priority
21, discussions are ongoing between the Chief Medical Officer and relevant policy
officials. A survey has been completed of domestic violence teaching in medical schools
and this has been accepted for publication. Medical Royal Colleges are considering
how to increase the profile of VAWG teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.</p><p>
</p><p>On priority 22, the Department produced in March 2017 an online publication,
‘Responding to Domestic Abuse – a resource for health professionals’ is available
at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-abuse-a-resource-for-health-professionals"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-abuse-a-resource-for-health-professionals</a></p><p>The
publication calls for routine enquiry into domestic abuse to become a fundamental
part of the skills and practice of every health professional. More broadly the National
Health Service provides care and support to victims of domestic abuse and domestic
violence through a wide range of health care services, including services for physical
and mental health. Routine enquiry is already in place in maternity and mental health
services, to improve earlier disclosure and support people to get the care that they
need. The Department has supported the Royal College of General Practitioners to develop
a Violence Against Women and Children e-learning training course for general practitioners
(GPs) and other primary care professionals to improve their recognition of and response
to patients suffering from violence and abuse is available at:</p><p><a href="http://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/search.php?search=violence+against+women+and+children"
target="_blank">http://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/search.php?search=violence+against+women+and+children</a></p><p>
</p><p>The Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) programme provides
staff training and a support programme to bridge the gap between the voluntary sector
and primary care, providing an improved domestic violence service. It is designed
to encourage clinicians and administrative staff to ask clients about domestic abuse
and violence and then either to react with an appropriate support, treatment and care).
IRIS has been developed as a commissionable model for implementation nationally –
it has been commissioned in 34 sites in England and one in Wales, where it is running
in over 1,000 GPs. IRIS Advise is a further development of IRIS targeted precisely
at sexual health services and has been successful in pilots in Bristol and east London.</p><p>
</p><p>On priority 23, the Department is working with NHS Digital to develop a work
programme to support this commitment. In October 2017 NHS Digital will be submitting
the Emergency Care Dataset (ECDS). This addresses an identified information gap, and
will achieve substantial benefits for patients and the wider urgent care system. It
will be implemented across emergency departments in England including all Type 1 Accident
and Emergency (A&E) wards, and injury data will be collected as an integral part
of the dataset. The introduction of ECDS should encourage consistent data collection,
helping A&E wards to meet the Information Sharing to Tackle Violence standards.
The new version of the Mental Health Services Dataset went live in April 2017. Discussions
are ongoing regarding how mental health data can support delivery of priority 23.</p>
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