NEWS
Staff created a hospital ward to attract pledges of public support
REX
Clinicians give care in the square for NHS Change Day A rainy Trafalgar Square in London was transformed into a hospital ward to publicise NHS Change Day. Front line staff, patients and the public made pledges to transform the health service in England as part of change day on Monday March 3. Among those taking part in the square was London’s deputy mayor Victoria Borwick. She served tea in the ‘pop-up ward’ and encouraged members of the public to volunteer to help local health and care services. Last year’s change day generated 189,000 pledges, including more than 5,000 from nurses. Go to changeday.nhs.uk
Every nurse should be trained to recognise domestic abuse – NICE By Jennifer Sprinks All nurses should be trained to recognise the signs of domestic violence and encourage patients to disclose their experiences of abuse, national guidance states. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced 17 recommendations on how health and social care services can help staff identify, prevent and reduce domestic violence and abuse. Every year, around two million men and women in England and Wales are subject to domestic abuse, including physical violence, emotional abuse, threats and sexual assault.
Sensitive questions
The guidance says front line staff should be trained to ask relevant questions in a sensitive manner to help people disclose their past or current experiences. It adds that organisations, including the royal colleges and Health Education England (HEE) should provide specific
NURSING STANDARD
training for all health and social care professionals in responding to domestic violence and outlines four levels of training, depending on the clinician’s role (see box). RCN equalities and diversities co-ordinator Wendy Irwin told Nursing Standard: ‘Awareness of domestic violence and abuse needs to be an integral part of the pre-registration nurse training curriculum. Nurses need to tackle the issue with sensitivity and intelligence. They need to have competent conversations with people and give people confidence that they can be trusted.’ University of the West of England professor of community health and nursing Debra Salmon, who has conducted research on improving midwives’ enquiries into domestic abuse, said: ‘We should be asking people routinely about domestic violence so we challenge social norms and values about what makes healthy relationships. The more we do that, the more people will feel able to talk about domestic abuse.’
Recommended training levels Level 1 – Staff can respond to a disclosure of domestic violence sensitively. Level 2 – Staff can ask about domestic violence in a way that encourages people to disclose it. Level 3 – Staff provide an initial response to victims of domestic abuse through a risk assessment, safety planning and continued liaison with specialist support services. Level 4 – Staff give expert advice and support to people experiencing domestic violence An HEE spokesperson said it is considering possibilities for nurse training on domestic violence. For the full guidance go to: tinyurl.com/pjab8el Nursing Standard is offering a free package on domestic violence for one week – tinyurl.com/ rcnpublishing-domesticviolence march 5 :: vol 28 no 27 :: 2014 11
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 15, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Staff created a hospital ward to attract pledges of public support
REX
Clinicians give care in the square for NHS Change Day A rainy Trafalgar Square in London was transformed into a hospital ward to publicise NHS Change Day. Front line staff, patients and the public made pledges to transform the health service in England as part of change day on Monday March 3. Among those taking part in the square was London’s deputy mayor Victoria Borwick. She served tea in the ‘pop-up ward’ and encouraged members of the public to volunteer to help local health and care services. Last year’s change day generated 189,000 pledges, including more than 5,000 from nurses. Go to changeday.nhs.uk
Every nurse should be trained to recognise domestic abuse – NICE By Jennifer Sprinks All nurses should be trained to recognise the signs of domestic violence and encourage patients to disclose their experiences of abuse, national guidance states. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced 17 recommendations on how health and social care services can help staff identify, prevent and reduce domestic violence and abuse. Every year, around two million men and women in England and Wales are subject to domestic abuse, including physical violence, emotional abuse, threats and sexual assault.
Sensitive questions
The guidance says front line staff should be trained to ask relevant questions in a sensitive manner to help people disclose their past or current experiences. It adds that organisations, including the royal colleges and Health Education England (HEE) should provide specific
NURSING STANDARD
training for all health and social care professionals in responding to domestic violence and outlines four levels of training, depending on the clinician’s role (see box). RCN equalities and diversities co-ordinator Wendy Irwin told Nursing Standard: ‘Awareness of domestic violence and abuse needs to be an integral part of the pre-registration nurse training curriculum. Nurses need to tackle the issue with sensitivity and intelligence. They need to have competent conversations with people and give people confidence that they can be trusted.’ University of the West of England professor of community health and nursing Debra Salmon, who has conducted research on improving midwives’ enquiries into domestic abuse, said: ‘We should be asking people routinely about domestic violence so we challenge social norms and values about what makes healthy relationships. The more we do that, the more people will feel able to talk about domestic abuse.’
Recommended training levels Level 1 – Staff can respond to a disclosure of domestic violence sensitively. Level 2 – Staff can ask about domestic violence in a way that encourages people to disclose it. Level 3 – Staff provide an initial response to victims of domestic abuse through a risk assessment, safety planning and continued liaison with specialist support services. Level 4 – Staff give expert advice and support to people experiencing domestic violence An HEE spokesperson said it is considering possibilities for nurse training on domestic violence. For the full guidance go to: tinyurl.com/pjab8el Nursing Standard is offering a free package on domestic violence for one week – tinyurl.com/ rcnpublishing-domesticviolence march 5 :: vol 28 no 27 :: 2014 11
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 15, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
