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Making change happen in primary care: the story of IRIS

    VISION Director and Professor of Primary Care at the University of Bristol Medical School, Gene Feder, was a keynote speaker at the webinar: Making change happen in primary care – The IRIS story, on 28 November 2023.

    With his co-presenter, Medina Johnson, CEO of IRIS, they shared the story of the concept and ambition that led to the beginning of the social enterprise established in 2017 to promote and improve the healthcare response to domestic violence and abuse (DVA).

    DVA is a violation of human rights that damages the health of women and families. The health care sector, including primary care, has been slow to respond to the needs of patients affected by DVA, not least because of uncertainty about the effectiveness of training clinicians in identification and engagement with survivors of abuse.

    To address that uncertainty, Gene and Medina conducted a cluster-randomised trial in Hackney and Bristol, finding that both identification and referral to specialist DVA services substantially increased in the intervention practices.

    In the webinar they mapped the (not always smooth) trajectory from trial results to a nationally available programme commissioned by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and local authorities in over 50 areas to date, including getting into guidelines/policy, further implementation research, negotiating with commissioners, and setting up a social enterprise (IRISi) to drive the scaling up of the intervention.

    For further information please watch the webinar video below.

    For any questions or comments, please contact IRISi at info@irisi.org

    Remote GP contact limits domestic violence care

      General Practice has a central role in identifying and supporting those affected by DVA. Pandemic associated changes in UK primary care included remote initial contacts with primary care and predominantly remote consulting.

      This paper explores general practice’s adaptation to DVA care during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that the disruption caused by pandemic restrictions revealed how team dynamics and interactions before, during and after clinical consultations contribute to identifying and supporting patients experiencing DVA. Remote assessment complicates access to and delivery of DVA care.

      This has implications for all primary and secondary care settings, within the NHS and internationally, which are vital to consider in both practice and policy.

      For further information please see: General practice wide adaptations to support patients affected by DVA during the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid qualitative study | BMC Primary Care | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)

      Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash