Hodgson: The Health Sector Response to Violence

Welcome to our keynote speakers, my Cabinet colleagues Steve Maharey, Nanaia Mahuta, and to health professionals and others. Welcome to those who have put together the Violence Intervention Programme - VIP - and associated resources to assist the health sector as we all work towards a less violent society.

We will talk about the body of work contained within VIP as the morning progresses and we will thank people here for their work and practical resources, but let me say firstly:

We must work urgently. The events of the last fortnight tell us that the dedication of the many that work to prevent and reduce violence is still not enough. Even if the events of the last fortnight had not come to pass, we have much to do.

Today there are New Zealanders who live in fear and who suffer. We must continue to work noisily and passionately to render domestic violence socially intolerable.

This Labour-led government recognises that the cycle of violence is not attributable to a single cause and nor will it have a single solution. We must all reach inward and dissolves artificial boundaries about who is responsible. We must dissolve conventions of the past that counsel that if it doesn't affect you personally it's not your business.

Everyone must make family violence their business. And it cannot become the fodder for politics. This is our society; this is all of our business.

As Minister of Health my portfolio contains thousands of professionals who get up every day to care guide and heal people. At times they patch and heal what should never have been broken.

Every poll confirms that people respect and trust health professionals. They are dedicated and well trained. We know that they are there for our good and bound by confidentiality. Their advice is trusted and they have unprecedented access to people.

Many childhood victims of abuse can go for a long time without being heard. Adult victims are often isolated from wider social relationships. But the doctor or nurse or other sees all of them. Within the health sector professionals have daily contact with babies, kids, teenagers, men and women.

The health sector often sees victims of family violence at a time when intervention can be most effective.

Before coming today I was looking at the booklet that the Ministry has produced for the VIP launch. It recounts moving stories from former victims and health professionals. It confirms how victims, particularly children, often need someone to actively intervene on their behalf. And we know many victims say they believed the violence was their own fault. They got locked in a world of their own, isolated by the fear of what might happen if they spoke out.

A health professional simply asking about abuse often marks the turning point for victims. Many had never been asked about violence at home before. Perhaps no one other than a health professional could ask.

I was also struck by the importance clinicians place on recognising that partner and child abuse so often go together. In another story, a social worker at the Te Puaruruhau unit of Starship Children's Health tells of a successful intervention for a three-year-old and her abused mother and says: "In most instances there is more than one victim …and if you want to make a positive difference you need to look for and respond to both."

Budget 2007 set aside $11.2 million to help the health sector in its response and to continue work within the umbrella term 'VIP' to:
ensure that victims of violence using health services receive the support they require, and
ensure that staff are trained and competent to screen health service users who may be victims of child and partner abuse.

In delivering real gains in this difficult area health professionals have shown real leadership and I thank you for that. To date:
Over 4500 health professionals have been trained in family violence intervention.
Plunket has screened 29,200 new mothers for violence and made 600 referrals for child abuse.
In the past year 500 GPs and midwives have been trained in family violence prevention.

These are remarkable gains and in launching the expanded Violence Intervention Programme today we will build on those gains. Along with ongoing training and support in family violence intervention, the Government has committed additional funding for all DHBs to employ Family Violence Intervention Coordinators as part of the broader Government programme to reduce family violence.

I am particularly pleased today to add the final piece in the family violence health response - the Family Violence Intervention Guidelines for Elder Abuse and Neglect. Research shows 3 to 10 per cent of the older population within developed nations experience abuse or neglect. These guidelines have been developed by Age Concern and a consortium of health professional organisations involved in older persons' health.

In implementing these guidelines I wish all of you who work with older people - as with everyone who works with victims - every success.

I also want to thank at least some of the many people who have helped bring us to this point.

I want to thank the Ministry for its leadership of this programme. It has progressed what is an internationally leading vision of a health system. And in doing this I think special acknowledgment is due to the energy, commitment and at times sheer doggedness shown by Jo Elvidge, the Ministry's project manager, and Pat Tuohy, clinical leader.

Thank you to those DHBs who have led the response to this issue. The government is very pleased to be able to offer additional funding to support your efforts.

Hawke's Bay DHB set up a model of intervention, led by Mollie Wilson, Russell Wills, and the National Family Violence Coordinator - Miranda Ritchie.

At Auckland District Health Board Kay Hyman, Denis Jury and Carol Stott have shown the way forward with a comprehensive approach. They are supporting patients through implementing the Family Violence Intervention Guidelines; and staff through the DV Free programme which supports workers affected by violence at home, and the community through their Public Health Unit.

I want to acknowledge the country's Family Violence Intervention Coordinators who have carried the torch for the programme and worked so hard.

In primary care, Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care have long led the way. The College of Midwives has supported significant training. Plunket have been simply outstanding in achieving a 300 per cent increase in the number of people identified as at risk and referred for help.

In doing all of this, many professionals have had to traverse unfamiliar territory in talking to patients about issues of violence.

And that they have done so with confidence is in part thanks to researchers such as Janet Fanslow (who wrote the Family Violence Intervention Guidelines); and the evaluators who provide the data DHBs use to monitor and progress their work. In particular I acknowledge the tireless work of Associate Professor Jane Koziol-McLain and her team. Also Kathy Glasgow and the advisory group that helped develop the Guidelines for Elder Abuse and Neglect.

Of course, none of these interventions would make sense if we didn't have strong agencies to refer patients to. We are indebted to Age Concern, Women's Refuge, the Child, Youth and Family Services, and Family and Community Services, the Police, women's support, children's support, parenting groups and violence intervention groups such as Preventing Violence in the Home who also provide the training for DHBs.

Finally - thank you to those working to prevent violence from occurring in the first place - the Whakatokia Te Rongomau Kohanga Reo parenting programme, run by Group Special Education, Ministry of Education, the Cool Schools conflict resolution programme run by the Peace Foundation, BodySafe run by Rape Crisis, and the violence-free marae, and Youth Non Violence Programmes run by the National Network for Stopping Violence Services.

Many people from these groups are represented here today. So on behalf of the Government, and am I sure of all New Zealanders, again I say thank you.

ENDS

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/hodgson

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