Violence screening steps up at DHB

Jamie Morton | 11th February 2009

The Wairarapa District Health Board is stepping up staff training ahead of family violence screening beginning in April.

At a two-day "Train the Trainers" workshop last month, 21 people from the DHB and other agencies learned how to teach the programme to be delivered to DHB staff in regular workshops.

The workshops, starting next Thursday, will be held fortnightly and will teach clinical staff members how to screen, assess and refer women over 16 who are suspected cases.

Gaye Rowberry, the DHB's family violence intervention co-ordinator, said the training would boost staff members' levels of awareness and clinical practice around family violence.

"This is the second stage of a Ministry of Health national initiative and involves many people working together to make a difference," she said.

"First we got all our policies and procedures in line, now we are in training mode and the end result will be the introduction of violence screening for all women over 16 in the hospital."

Much work has been done over the past 18 months to prepare for the screening, which is also being rolled out across the country's other 20 DHBs.

Hospital documentation has been revised to ensure routine screening questions are asked of all patients and a Child Protection Team is also to be formed within the DHB.

DHB unit manager Fred Wheeler said it was "vitally important" all staff understood the correct process to follow.

"This is not an end point but a beginning now the real work begins," he said.

"Emergency Department staff in particular will be pivotal in our achieving our goals.

"We will be audited by the Ministry of Health again in April and May and will need to demonstrate that we have good processes in place, that staff are being trained and that we have our own audit programme to demonstrate good practice.

"This training reaches right across the DHB from the Primary Health Organisation to hospital staff to district nursing and to primary care.

"Our multi-agency approach has undoubtedly enriched our development and there are many groups out there doing some excellent work and have been doing so for some time.

"We need to learn from them and develop excellent communication systems and build on our partnership. Together we can and will make a difference it is too important for us not to."