Collaboration is key to reducing violence in society
21/10/11
Sustainable reductions in violence can only be
achieved collaboration between Criminal Justice and Health. That is
the message that will be presented to GPs at the RCGP Annual
Conference, ACC Liverpool from 20 to 22 October.
Speaking on Friday 21 October, John Carnochan, Detective Chief
Superintendent of the Violence Reduction Unit, Scotland will look
at the connections between violence and health inequalities, and
explore the ways in which cross-sector collaboration can help
prevent violence in communities.
Detective Chief Superintendent Carnochan said: “Violence infects
the wellbeing and health of communities throughout the world; the
daily stress and fear experienced by individuals and families
inhibits lives and aspirations. Agencies such as Health, Education,
Social Services and Criminal Justice all commit significant
proportions of their budget to dealing with violence and its
consequences.
“Yet, despite these often heroic efforts by individual agencies
and groups, the levels of violence remain unacceptably high, health
is still poor, educational attainment is low and prisons are
full.
“The framing of the problem of violence using the public health
model allows a detailed and systematic examination that will not
only highlight the scale of the problem and the principal causes
but will also indicate solutions.”
RCGP Chair Dr Clare Gerada said: “As GPs, we are often the first
point of call when dealing with the consequences that result from
violence with our communities, but it is clear that we must work in
partnership with our colleagues in education, social services and
criminal justice to have the best chance to reduce it.
“One of my priorities as Chair is to look at how GPs can
identify and help patients who suffer as a result of domestic
violence, but it is clear that GPs are ideally placed to work to
solve violence across the board. Identifying and working to reduce
health inequalities is one of the many ways we as GPs can
contribute to improving the lives of all of our patients.”
ENDS
Further information
RCGP Press Office – 020 3188 7575/7569
RCGP Conference – on site contacts: 020 3188 7574/7576
Out of hours: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk
You can follow Conference discussions on Twitter with #RCGPAC and
more information on the event itself can be found at: www.rcgp.org.uk/annualconference.
The RCGP Conference App is now available for download. Search
for ‘RCGP Conference’ in your app store.
Notes to editors
The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of over
44,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work
to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical
practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training,
research and clinical standards.