Press Association
Saturday 11th February 2012
A scheme that will use hospital data in a bid to identify violence hotspots has been launched.
The project aims to highlight places where violence flares by recording information on assaults, including location and time.
Doctors and nurses in the accident and emergency unit at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride have already started recording the information.
The Injury Surveillance pilot will then be rolled out to Monklands and Wishaw hospitals later this month.
Information on assaults - which does not include the names of the victims - is shared with police to help allocate their officers and resources to combat problem areas.
The scheme is a joint initiative between NHS Lanarkshire and the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU).
Carol McLeod, Injury Surveillance project leader for the VRU, said: "We estimate between three to six per cent of the health budget in Scotland is spent on treating victims of violence.
"Much of that violence, for example alcohol-related violence, is preventable. Yet targeting problem areas can be difficult - studies show violence is under-reported by as much as 50% to 70%.
"That means victims are being denied access to relevant services and the police are allocating resources based on only a fraction of the necessary information. That's why Injury Surveillance is so important."
A study in Cardiff found there was a 20% reduction in the number of assault patients treated at accident and emergency following the introduction of Injury Surveillance.
