About this page. This page summarises a Domestic Homicide Review published in the Home Office DHR Library. The full report is available at the source link below. Victim and perpetrator names are not included in extracted summaries on this page.

Source · Domestic Homicide Review

North Somerset review

CSP: North Somerset Published: September 2023 Year of death: 2011 Extracted: 14 recs

Statutory domestic homicide review under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Source: Home Office DHR Library.

View full report (PDF) ↗ Source: Home Office DHR Library

Summary

This DHR highlights the hidden nature of domestic abuse, with the victim not seeking formal help and agencies having limited contact. It identifies missed opportunities for intervention, particularly regarding information sharing and follow-up on disclosures, and a need for increased public and professional awareness of domestic abuse signs and support.

Extracted recommendations

14 recommendations pulled from the report

#	Recommendation	Addressed to
1	Continue to raise awareness and encourage reporting of domestic abuse and in particular promote domestic abuse campaigns directed at members of the public for third party disclosure.	North Somerset People and Communities Board (Community Safety Partnership)
10	Review current counselling contracts with the NHS and ensure that private counsellors are given a general issue duty of care for their clients	North Somerset CCG
11	Engage and encourage private counsellors to disclose domestic abuse	North Somerset CCG
12	Determine boundaries between domestic abuse and adult safeguarding issues	North Somerset CCG
13	Highlight procedure for the situation where one of the agencies is aware of information held by another agency which is not disclosed to the wider group – in particular in relation to patient confidentiality or private counselling confidentiality issues	Home Office
14	Consider introducing guidance on how small organisations and GP practices can conduct Independent Management Reviews in an independent and quality assured way	Home Office
2	Focus on family and friends noticing signs of domestic abuse and reporting to relevant agencies (not necessarily the police)	North Somerset People and Communities Board (Community Safety Partnership)
3	Consider a wider range of methods to get domestic abuse messages across including radio/TV/public transport adverts; Facebook/Youtube/Twitter and a domestic abuse theme for the Google homepage	North Somerset People and Communities Board (Community Safety Partnership)
4	Address self-denial in professional people	North Somerset People and Communities Board (Community Safety Partnership)
5	Encourage employers to consider and engage in Domestic Abuse policies for their staff	North Somerset People and Communities Board (Community Safety Partnership)
6	DASH risk assessment – promote use of this by GPs and private counsellors to identify risk and consider use of it by family/ friends of people at risk	North Somerset People and Communities Board (Community Safety Partnership)
7	Ensure GPs are required to receive training and regular updates on domestic abuse and to look for signs, risk assess and share information regarding domestic abuse	North Somerset CCG
8	Consider how to support GP practices in conducting IMRs following a Domestic Homicide	North Somerset CCG
9	Ensure that agencies who are contracted by the NHS have clear discharge summaries back to the referring GP	North Somerset CCG
Recommendations extracted from the published report. Source: Home Office DHR Library. View full report ↗