News

College backs domestic abuse awareness training

RCN will lobby for mandatory domestic abuse awareness training for healthcare staff
Domestic abuse

All nurses should be trained to recognise signs of domestic abuse and provide support to victims, according to a resolution overwhelmingly backed by RCN members at congress in Glasgow last month.

Submitted by Amanda Burston, named RCN Nurse of the Year for 2015 for setting up a domestic violence service in Royal Stoke University Hospital’s emergency department, the resolution calls on RCN Council to lobby for mandatory domestic abuse awareness training for all healthcare workers.

Delayed support

Ms Burston said victims typically saw health professionals 5 times before getting the support they needed.

‘It’s hidden in our patients and colleagues,’ she said.

The resolution comes after more than one quarter of 1,455 nursing staff and students across the UK surveyed by the RCNi said they lack confidence in supporting domestic abuse victims.

Jobs