Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes are the most established of all health-based violence reduction approaches.
Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes were developed in the USA, with the first services being introduced in 1994. There are currently Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes across 85 cities in the USA. More information about the American model of Hospital-based Violence Reduction can be found here.
The first UK Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes were set up in 2005 in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Scotland; and in Kings College Hospital, London. Twenty years later, there are now more than 80 Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes across the UK and in most major cities, from Manchester, to South Wales, to Birmingham. 15 of the 29 hospitals across London provide violence reduction services either in their emergency department or via inpatient wards. The majority of UK services are funded by regional Violence Reduction Units (VRUs), though some have sourced funding via local authorities, or through an existing NHS footprint.
The principle aim of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes is to provide tailored support to young people who have experienced violence, or young with acute physical/mental health needs that are also at risk of experiencing violence. Typically these services are based in Emergency Department and Inpatient settings, often both. A relatable caseworker (sometimes also referred to as a navigator) meets a young person after they have sustained an injury due to violence, offering face-to-face support and guidance tailored to the specific needs of that young person. They often become the main point of contact between the young person and other supportive or statutory services, helping the young person to navigate their way around services. Service delivery ranges from a brief intervention within the emergency department, to longer term case management of up to 18 months.
Evidence of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes in the UK demonstrates that these interventions are correlated with an improvement to health and wellbeing, and a lower likelihood of future violence exposure. A closer exploration of the UK evidence can be found in our recent evidence review, Health-based interventions for violence affecting young people.
The NHS Violence Reduction Programme published an implementation guide for Hospital-based Violence Reduction in 2022. A copy of the guidance document is available here.
To find out more about Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programmes, please head over to our Resources page where we have curated a collection of relevant articles and papers.