It's been described as a public health
emergency. Yet, despite domestic abuse
victims having more contact with the NHS
than any other public service, a fresh
warning today that their unique position
isn't being utilized, and vital
opportunities to save lives continue to
be lost.
>> The NHS failed Jesse from the start. We
were screaming out for help.
Phyllis Daly fought for years for a
landmark judgment which explicitly
linked her daughter Jesse's suicide with
the domestic abuse that she'd endured.
>> She first spoke to Channel 4 News almost
3 years ago, expressing hope that the
system that failed Jesse would
fundamentally improve to better protect
victims.
>> It's going to be a national shock when
people start realizing,
>> but she's been left wanting and still
fighting for change.
Who do I blame for what happened to my
Jesse? Obviously, first off, the
perpetrator blamed him 100%. And I can
hold the professionals equally to
account because Jessica was brave enough
to put her hands up and say I was in a
domestic abuse relationship. And that's
the point I thought the professionals
would put their arms around and protect
my daughter and make her safe. And they
failed her. They failed her in so many
ways. She reported 11 times domestic
abuse, but that professional curiosity
wasn't shown. They didn't even ask the
perpetrator's name. I think the health
professionals failed her more than any
service going.
>> Do you think what happened to Jesse
could happen today?
>> It is still happening. It's not it could
still happen today. That is still
happening today. Unless we educate the
health professionals more, that won't
change.
Time and again, we hear of missed
opportunities to spot the signs and
connect the dots, of lost chances to
intervene and support victim survivors
of domestic abuse. The government have
pledged to half violence against women,
but already campaigners are warning that
this pledge will fail unless they're
included in health care strategy. And
the government's 10-year NHS plan barely
mentions the vital role that
professionals must play to change the
tide on this epidemic.
Part of that NHS plan for England was to
modernize access to healthare.
>> Will transform the NHS app so it becomes
an indispensable part of life for
everyone.
>> But there's fears that that could
inadvertently become a tool for
perpetrators.
>> Everything was monitored, everything was
controlled. There was no freedom.
>> Sarah, not her real name or voice, says
allowing access to NHS records via
phones risks pushing victims away from
healthcare. No, because it makes victims
more more vulnerable and victims perhaps
that are experiencing physical violence
won't be able to get treatment even on
the quiet because he'll find out. And I
think when you're in these
relationships, you're constantly doing a
risk assessment and I think it will make
the benefit of accessing health care not
worth the risk.
>> And what was your experience of the NHS
at that time?
>> Unfortunately, not good. My midwife
asked me about domestic abuse and she
was the domestic abuse lead for the
area, but she asked me in front of my
ex. So had I even made a funny face, I
would have been in so much trouble when
she left. So I sort of joke like, "Oh,
haha, no domestic abuse here because I
had to cuz I had to survive." So asking
a victim about abuse in front of the
perpetrator is a ridiculous thing to do
and a high risk thing to do.
>> Do you think there is a chance to
intervene much sooner? Oh yes,
absolutely, absolutely. And I went in at
one point um with chest pains and no one
asked me um are you under a lot of
stress? Is there something going on?
>> Clinical guidelines state a woman should
be asked about her home life while alone
at least once during antiatal
appointments. Sarah says she's still not
free from her abuser. He continues to
use her health records against her in
the family courts.
The charity standing together against
domestic abuse has called for better
coordination between services, more
training, and more money to save lives.
Do you think the NHS is failing victim
survivors of abuse?
>> I think systematically the NHS is
currently failing. There is definitely
an element of not seeing it as their
issue to tackle um and not seeing their
responsibility in terms of identifying
and responding. Coercive control and
domestic abuse is so insidious that the
opportunities victims and survivors get
to access help and support can be very
few and far between. And so when they're
seeing a GP or when they're seeing
somebody in a sexual health clinic or
accessing a nurse in an A&E department,
that might be their only opportunity to
seek support. And we know from speaking
to victims and survivors that they want
somebody to ask them the question, are
they safe at home? Is their relationship
safe?
The government told us they're improving
the response to domestic abuse in health
care settings as part of the 10-year NHS
plan and remain committed to having
violence against women and girls by
2034.
While NHS England said the health
service was learning lessons from past
failures.
Driving all that Phyllis does is her
beloved Jesse.
>> My Jesse was a very beautiful young
lady. She was such a caring, loving
person. She just loved life to the full.
I had such passion and drive to make
change. I can't bring my Jesse back, but
I can help other Jesses out there.
Determined that no others will feel the
pain of a death caused by domestic
abuse.
>> Dame Nicole Jacobs is the domestic abuse
commissioner for England and Wales. I
spoke to her earlier and began by asking
her if she agreed the NHS was failing
victims of domestic abuse.
Well, I I kind of see it from both sides
where I know there's so many champions
within the NHS. There's so many nurses,
doctors, safeguarding leads, midwives
who for years have tried to carve out
services for domestic abuse or a
response to domestic abuse within their
particular um service in the NHS. And
what I feel is that we're ignoring that
incredible work. We're ignoring victims
who tell us that that health services
will be a first port of call and we're
ignoring incredible work that um that we
could be progressing and we could be
seeing as consistent throughout our
health service. So, we're losing ground.
But given that in the NHS women who have
mental or physical health problems that
might be a clue to domestic abuse are
seen, you know, at that kind of front
door, what's going wrong here? What's
going wrong is that we're not planning
uh within our strategies within the NHS
and how that links to our strategies for
domestic abuse, for violence against
women and girls, we're not making those
links and we're losing the kind of
leadership and direction. And what that
means for victims is that the one place
that they may feel safe, the one place
that they may feel able to speak to
someone alone, um a place that they
naturally think is there to help them
isn't helping nearly as much as they
possibly could. I mean, couple that with
what we've heard this week about the
dash questionnaire, which, you know, has
been used as the main tool to assess
domestic abuse for many years. The
safeguarding minister said this week,
"Well, it's just not working." I mean,
should that have been scrapped long ago?
Do you think
>> that checklist is a risk indicator? It's
the kinds of very sensible questions
that any frontline practitioner should
be trained and feels feel very confident
to ask. That's not the only um question
to ask or set of questions to ask. It's
not the only judgment you should have.
But there's no substitute for for fully
trained staff who are really on it.
>> Absolutely. And we have violence against
women and girls strategy that has not
been published yet is not linking to the
NHS 10-year plan. We have got to see
this is a sense of urgency. We have um
victims and survivors of domestic abuse
who desperately need help within mental
health services, children within CAMS.
so many um opportunities lost because
we're not prioritizing
>> well that violence against women and
girls strategy is due out very soon.
What do you want to see from it?
>> I want to see the a focus on prevention,
a focus on this mission approach, you
know, where every single government
department is playing their part. And
what I'm afraid is that the one thing I
know from my own interaction with
victims, surveys with victims and
survivors is that health will be a very
first port of call. And we're letting uh
we're not seeing any evidence now yet
that the Department of Health and Social
Care is really doing the kinds of very
practical things that they could be
doing to create a more consistent
response. So the Department of Health
and the NHS needs to be at the heart of
that violence against women strategy,
>> need to be leading it, needing to be at
the heart of it. There's there's such
opportunities um that you could uh that
that that could be made within GP
surgeries, within neighborhood health
centers. Well, the government does have
this flagship pledge to h violence
against women and girls by 2034.
Are they off track at the moment? They
will not do it if they are not looking
at the evidence and the evidence will
tell us that one of the first ports of
call will be health services.
>> Dame Nicole Jacobs, thanks very much.
>> Thank you.
>> And if you have been affected by any of
the issues in that report, you can seek
help by going to channel4.com/support.