Royal Melbourne hospital family violence training framework 2018 – 2021

Caroline A Fisher,Georgina Galbraith,Simone Sheridan,Laura Bray,Helen Gill,Emma Handley,Emily Morris,Toni D Withiel

doi:10.35241/emeraldopenres.1114921.1

Abstract

Family violence is a significant social and public health problem. In 2015 a Royal Commission into Family Violence was established in Victoria, Australia, following a number of family violence deaths that received a high coverage in the media. The commission findings were released in 2016. These emphasised the significant physical and psychological harm that is caused by family violence, and that this has wide ranging community impacts. Among the Commission’s 227 recommendations a number pertained specifically to improv-ing the response of the healthcare system, with a whole-of-hospital model for responding to family violence recommend-ed for all public hospitals. <br /> <br /> Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) received a state government grant as part of the SHRFV project. RMH was formally partnered with Tweddle Child and Family Health Service and Dental Health Services Victoria, and also worked with associated service NorthWestern Mental Health, as part of the project. This document outlines the RMH Family Violence Training Framework, a whole-of-hospital transformation change project designed to implement Recommendation 95 from the Royal Commission. All funded services were encouraged to adapt the SHRFV project model to suit the local environment of their health service. This document outlines the RMH approach. RMH specifically focused on using an evidence based re-search and evaluation framework with a focus on in-depth training, underpinned by a clinical champions network.

Highlights

In 2015 a Royal Commission into Family Violence was established in Victoria, Australia, following a number of family violence deaths that received a high coverage in the media (2)
The Family Violence staff training program commenced at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) in the second half of 2018
By year end in 2021 there had been a total of 6,304 staff attendances at family violence training, either provided by, or sourced through, the RMH Family Safety Team

Summary

Introduction

Violence is a significant social and public health problem (1). In 2015 a Royal Commission into Family Violence was established in Victoria, Australia, following a number of family violence deaths that received a high coverage in the media (2). Among the Commission’s 227 recommendations a number pertained to improving the response of the healthcare system, with a whole-ofhospital model for responding to family violence recommended for all public hospitals In response to this recommendation, the Victorian Government funded a sector wide initiative, the Strengthening Hospital Responses to Family Violence (SHRFV) project, led by the Royal Women’s Hospital (RWH) and Bendigo Health (3). Recommendation 95: The Victorian Government resource public hospitals to implement a whole-ofhospital model for responding to family violence, drawing on evaluated approaches in Victoria and elsewhere [within three to five years]. This document outlines the RMH Family Violence Training Framework, a whole-of-hospital transformation change project designed to implement Recommendation 95 from the Royal Commission. Plan work flow audits of family violence screening in electronic medical records to increase knowledge about demographics of clients, care and pathways utilisation

RMH Training Framework

Running Combined

Findings

Summary