Partnership working in Sheffield

Yesterday I attended the Sheffield Integrated Domestic Abuse Service stakeholder meeting with both my SAFE@LAST and my sector representative hat on. It was interesting to hear about the developments of the service which is due to go live in April and launch in May aimed to provide an inclusive service for all who are affected by domestic abuse. The service will include a wide range of 'wrap around services' including a new 0800 helpline, a city-wide community outreach service, joint working teams involving the police, social care services and others and an education/prevention approach etc.

Whilst I've heard some of the facts and stats quoted about prevalence of domestic abuse before, the figures are still shocking and of great concern relating to just the Sheffield picture.

With the Government now having a national 'violence against women and girls' strategy and the associated TV advert campaign, domestic abuse should be on everyone's agenda and awareness more than ever before http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/violence-against-women1/ of course the challenge will be to maintain that momentum especially in times of inpending public sector spending cuts and indeed a potential change in administration with the general election.

We know that domestic abuse issues can be those that feature in a young runaways situation as they can be the victim of emotional, financial, sexual or physical abuse. It is therefore important that we continue to keep abreast of the developments that are happening and to ensure that we are valued partner in helping to shape the work and service provision.

The co-location of a social work team with other key services as part of the Integrated Domestic Abuse Service will be a significant asset. The response to the hundreds of domestic abuse incidents referred to social care services every single day where a child has been witness to or present abuse, can only be improved by this closer joint working.

Of course the challenge will be making it work and also as we look more and more to move to a 'one stop shop' approach to key issues and areas, is there a danger that what we are actually doing is developing several 'one stop shops' which are therefore not the one port of call, by definition? Whilst access should improve as the long list of numbers is reduced to one or two, as more one stop shops are created, the list of numbers increases and can still be confusing.

What is important is, at the end of the day, we must not loose sight about why go down such a road - its not about being precious about who provides the support or where that service is located, although not to recognise there are some tricky issues to iron out here is not being realistic, its about getting a better deal for people affected by these issues and making Sheffield a better place for people to live, work and play.