Team: Dr Sara Morgan, Associate Professor School of Primary Care, Population Sciences, and Medical Education

Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton

Mrs Katerina Porter, Senior Research Assistant, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton

Dr Eunice Aroyewun,Senior Research Assistant at the School of primary care, population science and medical education, University of Southampton

Supervisor: Professor Julie Parkes, School of Primary Care, Population Sciences, and Medical Education

Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton

The aim of the evaluation was to map the pathways by which victim-survivors are referred for, and receive, support for domestic abuse situations, from the Council and its partners. There are several processes to which victim-survivors can be referred in Southampton City: PIPPA and HRDA.

PIPPA stands for the Prevention, Intervention, & Public Protection Alliance, and is the referral and support process for domestic abuse cases that have been assessed as standard- or medium-risk. PIPPA is a group of services working together to end domestic and sexual violence in Southampton, and comprises the following agencies:

• STOP Domestic Abuse

• Yellow Door

• Southampton City Council’s Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) Service

• Hampton Trust

• South Hampshire Women’s Refuge

• No Limits

Our evaluation interviewed over 50 people, including professionals working within Southampton’s domestic abuse response, and victim/survivors of domestic abuse.  We learned that the ‘high-risk pathway’, where victim/survivors are assessed as being of great risk, is extremely resource-intensive.  Southampton City has capacity to hear 20 high-risk cases per week at the twice-weekly Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference meetings – but sometimes there are more cases than can be heard in a timely manner.  There are things that the professionals and their agencies can do to improve the service for victim/survivors, such as information sharing (particularly around referral thresholds), attending domestic abuse training to develop a greater understanding of the presentations of domestic abuse, and working more closely with partner agencies. 

The victim/survivors we interviewed placed high value on the one-on-one support they received from key workers, especially Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVAs).  The process of having to go to court was seen as a significant stress by victim/survivors; IDVA support through this time is essential.

What have we done with our findings?

We have provided a final report to Southampton City Council.  We also delivered a successful in-person dissemination event on 8^th March 2024 (International Women’s Day), where over 50 professionals from across Southampton came together to learn about our interim results and discuss their experiences delivering support for domestic abuse, with their colleagues from across multiple agencies.  We have shared the evaluation findings at regional, national, and international conferences. 

Having identified the human-resource-heaviness of the high-risk domestic abuse support pathway, we successfully applied twice for funding to explore the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the domestic abuse response.  This work is ongoing, and has been very positively received by stakeholders including Southampton City Council, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner.