Responsible drinking

As pubs and clubs are gearing up for one of the busiest nights of the year - widely known as “Black Friday”, BMA Cymru are urging party goers to drink responsibly tonight.

Black Friday has become one of the busiest nights of the year for those working in Hospitals and the emergency services in Wales. Hospitals are busy putting extensive contingency plans in place to cope with an influx of alcohol induced injuries.

The combination of the Friday before Christmas, pay-day and binge drinking will put an increased strain on services in Wales.

Anti-social behaviour, violence, and drink-driving will multiply this weekend across Wales due to an increased level of alcohol intake, and in many cases, binge drinking.

Alcohol can be an enjoyable part of social and cultural life especially over Christmas. I've said it before - we are not looking to restrict people from having a choice about consuming alcohol, we just want to encourage adults to drink in moderation, rather than drinking to get drunk.

Sometimes people may not even be aware that they are drinking too much – it is easy to do. It is important to keep track of how much you are drinking.

It is vital that people make alternative arrangements for getting home if they are drinking this weekend. Even driving the morning after can be dangerous as alcohol may still be in the system.

I met with Kate Edwards and Melanie Hamer of Pontypridd Women’s Aid recently who have considerable experience in supporting and dealing with victims of domestic violence. They were extremely concerned that the number of complaints about domestic violence would increase this weekend. Kate Edwards who is the Chair of Pontypridd Women’s Aid said:

“There will be a visible police presence out on the streets prompting some to take their anger out at home.

“It is particularly sad when such incidents occur at a time which is meant to be a happy one. Domestic violence can have a dreadful effect not just on the victim, but of course on the children and it can end up not just ruining their Christmas, but impacting adversely on the rest of their lives.”

So the message from us at BMA Cymru is – enjoy a drink, but don’t overdo it.

Update on BMA domestic abuse seminar

As promised, an update on Tuesday’s domestic abuse seminar, held by the BMA at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay. First of all, I’d just like to thank everyone involved in making the event such a success, it was very well attended, perhaps in part due to the wide field of experts we had speaking there. And a special note of thanks to the speakers, Simon Jones – NSPCC, Professor Jonathan Shepherd – Director of Cardiff University’s Violence Research Group, Paula Hardy – Welsh Women’s Aid, DCI Martyn Dew – Gwent police and Dr Brian Gibbons – Social Justice Minister. It was really interesting to have such a broad cross-section of organisations, able to represent some of the different facets of domestic abuse.

There were quite a few statistics mentioned, too many perhaps to quote them all here. However, one that did stand out for me was the fact that a victim will be attacked at least 34 times, before first contacting police and seeking help.

Professor Jonathan Shepherd’s account of a patient he sees on a regular basis in his dental clinic, was also very powerful. The patient, who didn’t want to be identified, was stabbed repeatedly by her partner and continues to suffer post-traumatic stress and depression because of the abuse, re-living events constantly in her mind. A couple of things that have really helped her however was the response from ambulance staff and doctors who she said saved her life and also the continuity of care that she was given which meant she didn’t have to recount her distressing ordeal over and over again. The one drawback this particular victim found was a lack of any kind of support network and that despite the fact she wanted to talk to people about it, there wasn’t necessarily anyone there to listen.

I think there was general agreement that the Welsh Assembly Government has done a great a deal of policy work in the area of domestic abuse, perhaps more so than the Home Office when it was that Government department’s responsibility. There were several key recommendations made though as well, including the need to audit every A&E department in Wales over domestic abuse attendances, a better forensic medical service and to challenge the cultural acceptance by many that domestic abuse is the “norm” and “the way things are”.

Following on from this event, we’ll be putting together a report, which will detail all the findings and recommendations made on the night, which of course, I’ll post on here.

Despite the fact that invites were sent out well in advance to all 60 Assembly Members, only a handful turned up (including the Social Justice Minister who was speaking). I wonder what was more pressing than addressing this issue, which is undoubtedly a very real one for many of their constituents?

If you were unable to make the event, but would like to see more about what was discussed, here's the webcast of it.

Declaring war on the home front

We’re holding a seminar this evening to highlight what is still for many, very much a “hidden”, never-to-be-talked-about issue, at the same time as being a huge problem.

In Wales alone last year, an estimated 81,000 adults aged 16 to 59 were the victim of domestic abuse. This includes 46,000 women and 35,000 men. *

The fact that men and women live in fear day in day out, and are victims and prisoners in their own homes simply isn’t acceptable in Wales today.

In representing doctors across the country, I think that healthcare professionals have a key role to play, not just in providing medical attention or treatment, but in identifying and referring victims early on. I hope tonight’s event will focus on the multi-agency approach which is needed to move this issue forward.

It will be very interesting to hear what the likes of the Social Justice Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons has to say, along with representatives from Welsh Women’s Aid, Gwent Police and the NSPCC.

I’ll post an update on here about how it all goes!

*British Crime Survey Jan 2009.

Kicking domestic abuse into touch during the Six Nations

I’d like to commend the Wales rugby team for getting involved in the latest initiative around domestic abuse and highlighting the very real and negative consequences that can stem from our national game. Members of our Six Nations squad faced a press conference yesterday to talk about how big a problem violence in the home can become, during the championship.

It is important that sports stars give their backing to issues like this, as often the perpetrators of the abuse would no doubt look up to and perhaps take notice of a message of intolerance from Welsh rugby players, more so anyway, than others, such as the police, charities or politcians. Let’s hope it goes some way towards tackling the problem.

Hidden and human cost of the credit crunch

A top Welsh police chief says there could be more victims of domestic abuse, as the credit crunch takes hold. If that's the case it's a sad, and very disturbing consequence of economic hardship.

Gwent Police chief constable Mick Giannasi says there is evidence of more tensions behind closed doors, as families worry about money.

Of course, the stress of finding enough cash to pay the bills and feed the family all adds up to more pressure on the breadwinner(usually male). But there can never be a valid "excuse" for violence in the home.

The BMA is aware its members can play a part in getting this hidden issue more out into the open, previously calling on doctors and all health professionals to be increasingly aware of domestic abuse. Doctors need to ask their patients the right kind of questions about attacks in the home and respond appropriately. They need also to be given training in dealing with domestic abuse, to "spot" the signs.

Today, on White Ribbon Day, here are just two alarming statistics, highlighting the depth of the problem.

Domestic abuse is THE number one cause of death for women across the world, aged between 19 and 44.

Domestic abuse accounts for 50% of women who are murdered.

Spotlight on domestic abuse

We fully support AM Nerys Evans' attempts to get the issue of domestic abuse, still very much a hidden problem, on everyone's radar. Launching a blog for victims to write about their experiences, will hopefully stop it from being so "hidden".

BMA Cymru Wales also backs Nerys' calls for the WAG to fund an awareness-raising campaign, aimed at changing people's attitudes towards violence against women. One way of helping with this would be for all doctors and health professionals to be given training in dealing with domestic abuse, which we've called for in a previous BMA report focusing on the issue.

Key recommendations from this report include:

1. All health professionals should receive training in identifying and helping patients who are victims of domestic abuse – this needs to be implemented on a national scale within emergency medicine.

2. Health professionals should ask patients appropriate questions in a sensitive and non-threatening manner, to encourage disclosure of abusive experiences.

3. Health professionals should recognise that men can also be victims of domestic abuse.

4. The government should promote a ‘zero-tolerance’ attitude to domestic abuse.

5. Refuges should be more accessible to transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual individuals.

6. Domestic abuse education programmes should be implemented in all primary and secondary schools.

Hopefully, "humanising" domestic abuse in the form of victims blogging about their experiences, will make us all, including politcians, sit up and take notice.