Friday 17 June 2011

Cardiff scheme to cut alcohol-related violence injuries has provided such dramatic results that cities around the world are being encouraged to adopt a similar mode

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Research suggests the Welsh capital has seen a 42% drop in hospital admissions from violent incidents.
The project involves information sharing between the police and casualty departments and uses details given anonymously by injured patients on where, when and how violence occurs.
This allows police and other agencies to predict the nature and time of potential violence and then target resources at 'hotspots' highlighted by the data.
Cardiff University's Professor Jonathan Shepherd, who led the research, said he wanted to do something about the endless stream of facial injury victims who end up on NHS operating tables after a night's drinking.
If subsequent studies also find the significant reductions found in Cardiff, it would increase confidence in the value of this new tool to prevent violence.
Alexander Butchart, WHO prevention of violence co-ordinator
He found that only 23% of accident and emergency cases where people were treated after attacks in Cardiff, Swansea and Bristol were recorded by the police.
Hospital data going back a number of years also suggested that seven out of eight incidents on licensed premises did not appear on police records.
"It came as a real surprise to me to find that I was treating cases week in, week out, where the cause of the injury was simply not being investigated, let alone brought to book," Prof Shepherd said.
"These attacks were just not being reported. My reaction was one of shock. It seemed like such an injustice.
"I felt there was scope here for prevention by working in an integrated way with the police, the hospitals and the local authorities to identify and target the violence hotspots.
"I felt it was essential to integrate the police and A and E data, particularly on locations and weapons."
In Kent, the data collected has helped identify high levels of domestic violence, leading to a new advisory service on the issue.
In Portsmouth, details fed into the Licensed Premises Management system have enabled police and the local authority to restrict the opening times of certain clubs and bars.
The data-sharing model is being implemented across the UK because of its success, a report in the British Medical Journal said.
And the World Health Organisation has suggested the Cardiff model should be emulated across the world.
Alexander Butchart, the WHO's prevention of violence co-ordinator, said: "If subsequent studies also find the significant reductions found in Cardiff, it would increase confidence in the value of this new tool to prevent violence."

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