ISTV – Health Professionals

Data Collection

Data collection is undertaken by Emergency Department (ED) receptionists or clinical staff. It is key to the whole ISTV process because:

Without collection of data at EDs there would be no data to develop the intelligence from;
It is the first point of contact with the patient and so the point at which information is most likely to be obtained;
It is at this point that the volume and quality of data collected is determined.

The data set is generally collected within when the patient books in using the existing patient information data collection system. However, some EDs have developed additional procedures to allow for this information to be collected at a later stage by clinical staff (such has triage nurses or clinicians) during clinical consultations.

ISTV only requires four pieces of information to be collected:

Date and time of presentation to the ED: This provides context and determines the level of the demand for emergency treatments linked to violence. Note that this is standard information collected for all patients and so is not a unique requirement of ISTV.
Date and time of the injury occurring: This information provides a picture of the temporal distribution of violent crime, allowing the identification of seasonal, monthly, weekly and daily trends. This in turn can be used to inform the deployment of resources at the times when they are most needed.
Specific location where the assault took place: This provides important information about where violent crime is happening, allowing community safety partnerships and the police to target these locations and prevent further violent crime from taking place. (See below for more on location data).
The primary weapon used to inflict the injury: What weapon was used (for instance knife, bottle or body part) provides intelligence about local patterns in relation to the nature of violent crime, allowing the differentiation and implementation of preventative and mitigating approaches (such as measures for businesses to prevent alcohol related violence or community engagement to prevent knife crime).

Training Package for NHS staff

The London ISTV Team have developed a training package aimed at NHS staff working in EDs to help them understand the structure of the programme, its core components and why their role is so crucial.

The training covers the whole ISTV process with particular focus on how to collect the information needed and how the information is later used by local authorities, police and partnership agencies to tackle and prevent serious violence.

How to collect location

The location of the assault is collected as free text (i.e. a short written description) and is the most important piece of information amongst the four collected and, at the same time, is the most difficult to capture.

While the date and time of attendance is automatically recorded by patient information systems at the time of registration and the method of injury is often clear even if not openly disclosed by the patient, the date and time of the incidents and the location of the assault relies fully on the victim’s willingness and ability to provide this information.

Location information can be particularly difficult to collect due to a number of factors including: lack of knowledge by the patient about where the incident took place, the expectation that NHS staff should know where they are referring to, spelling mistakes, unwillingness by patients to provide detailed information or simply a lack of awareness among NHS staff about what constitute “good quality” or “actionable” location information.

To better equip NHS staff and increase their awareness and understanding of how different types of information can be used by local authorities and partners, a further product has been developed and made available either through on site training or remotely.

How to capture good quality data

NHS Violence Reduction

Reducing violence is one of the ten key areas that NHS London, the Greater London Authority, Public Health England and London Councils have identified as a priority to make London the world’s healthiest global city, and the best global city in which to receive health and care services.

This area of work will continue to see ISTV as one of its core components, driving forward evidence-based work that allows partners to identify community risks and preventative factors.

ISTV Awards

Croydon Emergency Departments has shown an outstanding commitment over the years, providing valuable information to tackle serious violent offences in the borough.

In 2018, Yvonne Battie, Receptionist Lead at Croydon ED, received the ISTV Excellence award on behalf of Croydon NHS Trust.