Domestic Abuse: Children

(asked on 26th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the NHS England Domestic Abuse Action Plan will advise clinicians that they can request that previous NHS waiting times are taken into consideration when making referrals for (1) physical, and (2) mental, healthcare for children fleeing domestic abuse.


Answered by
Lord Bethell Portrait
Lord Bethell
This question was answered on 10th June 2021

Existing NHS policy is clear that access to NHS treatment is based on clinical need. Clinicians are expected to consider trauma, such as domestic abuse. The individual circumstances of children and young people seeking help will form part of local clinical judgement.

Alongside this the Government is focused on addressing the pressures caused by the pandemic as a priority and we are working with the National Health Service to tackle long waiting lists and bear down on waiting times. At the Spending Review (SR) we invested £1 billion to kickstart elective recovery throughout 2021-22, incentivising providers to address backlogs and tackle long waiting lists.

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