Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid is touring England

THE Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid will be on the:- 'Road to Recovery' is on a tour spanning the country where he will visit:- Hospitals, Care Homes, Cancer Centres and cutting edge research facilities, in order to engage those most integral to his ambitious reform and recovery agenda. Kicking off on Monday, 14 February 2022, his 1st stop was in the East of England. His tour has take him to the North West and West Midlands, the North East, South West and South East and London. Along the way, he will visit care homes, community diagnostic centres, vaccination centres and GP surgeries. He'll meet with urgent community response teams and visit a number of hospital sites to see and hear 1st hand the life saving treatments being delivered and the cutting edge technology within the NHS. The tour is an opportunity for the Health and Social Care Secretary to hear from the dedicated health and care staff across the country that have worked tirelessly throughout the Pandemic. As the country learns to live with Covid19, it is a chance to discuss the Government's plans for a health and care service that not only meets the needs of people today, but also future needs. Each day he will host Q&A sessions with members of the public to listen to and better understand their experiences of the NHS, Public Health, and social care services.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said:- "As we learn to live with COVID, my mission is clear. We must tackle the backlog of people waiting for treatment, bring NHS and social care services closer together and deal with the stark inequalities and level up the health of the nation. Nurses, Doctors, GPs, Vaccinators, porters and so many others have put everything on the line to care for patients and families throughout this Pandemic, and that's why I wanted to thank them personally. This week I want to hear directly from staff, patients, residents and local people about their experiences of the health and care systems and discuss my plans for NHS and social care recovery and reform."

Building on the phenomenal work of the NHS in the Vaccine rollout, which has been crucial in allowing the UK to open up and being to learn to live with Covid19, last week the NHS and Government set out a blueprint to tackle backlogs of operations and long waits for care built up during the Pandemic through and involves massive expansion of tests, checks and treatments.

The COVID Backlog Recovery Plan will help the NHS reduce waiting times, give patients more control over their care, and harness innovative technology to free up staff time so people across the country can get the treatment they need. Data such as age, ethnicity and deprivation will be analysed to understand how they impact access to treatment to identify ways to level up healthcare and tackle disparities.

The Government has also published a new Integration White Paper setting out a vision for a more joined up NHS and adult social care sector to transform services so they not only deliver more personalised care and treatment for patients, they will improve systems and processes to allow staff to focus more on patient care. Plans to enable people across the country to live longer, healthier lives are moving forward thanks to two significant independent reviews to tackle health disparities which the Government recently announced.

A review into potential ethnic bias in the design and use of medical devices will be led by Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead, professor of Public Health, at the University of Liverpool. Separately, Javed Khan OBE, former CEO of Children's Charity Barnardo's, will lead an independent review of the Government's bold ambition to make England smoke free by 2030. Both independent reviews will form part of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities' agenda to tackle inequalities in health and care, which will include the publication of the Health Disparities White Paper in the spring.
 

UCLan researchers work with Lancashire Constabulary and Lancashire Violence Reduction Network on Home Office funded project

RESEARCH from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), funded by the Home Office, has found that 1 in 10 domestic abuse cases recorded in Lancashire are committed by people towards their own parents. In partnership with Lancashire Constabulary and the Lancashire Violence Reduction Network, the UCLan Criminal Justice Partnership investigated 26 months of domestic abuse cases from November 2018 to February 2021 and found that of the 66,973 cases reported, 7,171 were committed by people over the age of 16 towards a parental figure. It is the 1st time in the UK that research has focused specifically on child to parent domestic abuse cases where the perpetrator is aged 16 or older, which is the age where abuse of a parent by their child is classed as domestic abuse. Most research has explored adolescent child to parent domestic abuse, but this research suggests that it can, and does, happen at any age and involves a complex range of perpetrator demographics.

Currently there is limited information on parental abuse by older children. Leaving Police and other organisations having to use assessments such as the DASH (Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment) tool, which may not be appropriate for some, or any cases, where the perpetrator is the victim's child. This may lead to higher risk cases not being picked up or lower risk cases being dealt with via the criminal justice system where other approaches may be better for the victim. This research suggests that additional guidelines and assessment tools may be needed to be developed for child to parent domestic abuse cases.

Professor of Criminal Justice Psychology and lead author of the research paper Nicola Graham Kevan said:- "The guidelines around domestic abuse in family situations need more clarity so that resources can be clearly directed where they are needed. Previous research around child to parent domestic abuse has focused primarily on adolescent perpetrators. However, this research suggests that it is not just adolescents that abuse their parents, and instead our findings uncovered perpetrators aged between 16 and 74 years with victims aged between 30 and 98 years. The average age of perpetrators was 27 years, while the average age of the victim was 54 years."

The research also found that there appears to be different profiles of perpetrators, suggesting that there is a gap in the understanding of the range of dynamics, risk factors and causes of this kind of abuse. Where some perpetrators used intimidating behaviour and coercive control and caused the victims significant fear, other incidents appeared to centre around children struggling with substance use, whereas others may be better understood as carer burnout. In around a quarter of the cases, perpetrators appeared to struggle with their mental health and diagnosis, or behaviour consistent with, autism, ADHD, depression, Schizophrenia and psychosis, and emotionally unstable personality disorders were likely an important factor. While the report focuses on cases reported to Lancashire Constabulary, there is no reason to assume the data is unique to the county and is likely to be broadly representative of child to parent domestic abuse case figures nationally. The problem may also be on the rise due to changes in national demographics. The Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey found that the number of people aged 20-34 years living with their parents since 1996 has risen by a third and by March 2020, this equated to 28% of people within this age group sharing a home with their parents, grandparents, or step parents.

Dr Nathan Birdsall, research fellow in policing at UCLan and co-investigator on the project, said:- "We expect that this figure of 10% will be reflected nationally and in fact, the reality is that the percentage may be much higher. Many instances of child to parent domestic abuse are unlikely to be reported because the victim does not want to criminalise their child, may feel that it makes them look like a bad parent, they feel embarrassed or guilty about reporting, or they may rely on their child to provide and care for them. As with all domestic abuse, reasons for not reporting are complex, but critically important so we understand how victims seek help. This is especially important given that there has been a significant increase in both the age children typically leaving the family home, and the number of older adults acting as care givers to elderly relatives. Understanding domestic abuse within a wider family setting is needed now more than ever."

The project received more than ₤34,600 of funding from the Home Office, following a call out for research related to domestic violence perpetrators. It has now secured a further ₤51,970 for a 2nd phase, which will further examine the profile of this specific genre of offenders and how this might change over time. These findings will be published later in 2022.

Detective Chief Superintendent Sue Clarke, Head of the Lancashire Violence Reduction Network, said:- "This piece of research is particularly important as it provides insight for support service providers and the general public into one of the lesser understood forms of domestic abuse. I look forward to the second phase, which has a focus on profiling offenders to gain a deeper understanding of the circumstances and other factors that lead to people over the age of 16 abusing a parental figure."

Claire Powell, Area Manager for Lancashire Victim Services, said:- "We can offer specialist support to anyone affected by domestic abuse in Lancashire and this includes adults whose older children (16+) are abusive towards them. Our support is available regardless of whether or not you choose to report the abuse to the Police. We understand that people can be fearful to seek support for situations involving their children, but our specialist team is here to support you without judgement and I would encourage anyone affected to contact us."

The full report, Understanding child to parent domestic abuse in Lancashire, is available to download. More information and guidance on dealing with domestic abuse is available via the Lancashire Victim Services website and on the #NoExcuseForAbuse website.