Make a Change’s pilot health initiative: One year on
Following an innovative pilot health initiative, we are pleased to share our findings and recommendations to support the health sector’s response to those perpetrating domestic abuse.
In August 2024, a Domestic Abuse and Health Lead joined the Make a Change team to lead a one-year innovative national pilot, thanks to funding from Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse (STADA) through the Crossing Pathways project. This role worked with secondary care health settings, to support them to identify and develop safe and robust, survivor-centred responses to patients and staff perpetrating domestic abuse, by empowering health professionals and enhancing the sector’s capacity to respond to them safely.
Through the pilot, we collaborated with three pioneering NHS Trusts – Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. We also worked with partners, both locally and nationally, including specialist domestic abuse services, statutory services, subject matter experts, healthcare professionals, NHS England, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and survivors.
Alongside this, our team supported STADA and Social Led with the development of an accreditation framework for health, providing expertise on safe and robust responses to people causing harm.
The pilot highlighted and addressed a number of gaps in current approaches, including the need for robust and evidence-based policies and practice, both at a local and national level.
It calls for:
Responses to domestic abuse to include people causing harm.
Policymakers and professionals to take advantage of opportunities, such as ongoing revisions in national guidance and training, to include people causing harm.
The health sector to take an active role in commissioning for a range of services and interventions.
The continuation of the pilot to assess longer-term impact and intervention outcomes.
To see the findings and recommendations in full, take a look at the Make a Change health pilot impact report.
