Understanding the barriers and facilitators influencing service use – such as police and healthcare – among people who experience violence is essential for improving support for victim-survivors and informing violence prevention initiatives. Administrative data are often limited to the users of a particular service, while linked data provides an opportunity to examine factors associated with the use of multiple services or one over the other.

VISION researchers, Anastasia Fadeeva, Emma Barton, Lara Snowdon and Estela Capelas Barbosa, used linked emergency department (ED) and police data from South Wales to observe  seasonal and annual changes in the use of both services and understand the individual and contextual factors associated with the use of healthcare and police for their recent article, Service use following violence: insights from the linked administrative data in South Wales. 

The linked ED-police data from South Wales allowed identification of incidents of violence recorded in ED data only and in both ED and police data as well as an analsyis of sociodemographic characteristics of victims and characteristics of violent incidents.

Results showed that violent incidents recorded in ED were more likely to be against people who were male and young, occur in more deprived areas, on a street, and with an assailant being a stranger, while the incidents with female victims was greater in the police data. If both services were accessed, the incidence of violence against females was higher among those who approached the police first. When incidents happened at the victim’s home and with the assailant known to the victim, both services were more likely to be used. The incidents that happened at a workplace were less likely to be reported to the police.

Violence continues to be primarily addressed within the remit of the criminal justice system, despite being acknowledged a public health problem. Older age and alcohol consumption were associated with the use of both services.

The researchers concluded that more measures are required to encourage young people to use services. Identifying and addressing barriers for disclosing workplace violence is recommended. Research and policies need to focus on identifying and addressing barriers for reporting violent incidents to the police by workplace victims and males. Relying on a single data source provides a partial and potentially biased picture of violence. Combining and linking different data sources offers a more comprehensive understanding but requires careful interpretation.

To download the article: More measures are required to encourage young people to use services. Identifying and addressing barriers for disclosing workplace violence is recommended.

To cite: Fadeeva, A., Barton, E.R., Snowdon, L. et al. Service use following violence: insights from the linked administrative data in South Wales. BMC Public Health (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-30031-6

For further information: contact Anastasia at anastasia.fadeeva@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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