Violence Reduction Unit Injury Surveillance Conference

Thursday, 2 September 2010, 10am – 3.30pm, Royal College of Surgeons, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh

Violence costs both health and justice services millions of pounds each year, yet many of these incidents are preventable. Injury Surveillance is an initiative where health service staff collect anonymous data on assaults each time a victim attends hospital, then share it with police, thus enabling better deployment of resources to tackle violence hotspots.

A pilot project is already underway in North Lanarkshire, and with Injury Surveillance named as a priority in the Scottish Government’s Equally Well report, it is anticipated that such projects will also help health boards work towards government HEAT targets to work with partners to reduce A&E admissions.

To share experiences of Injury Surveillance and help support those health boards considering a pilot, the VRU are holding a special conference on Thursday, 2 September in Edinburgh. Among the speakers will be Professor Shepherd, creator of the Injury Surveillance model and Chief Medical Officer Dr Harry Burns. Also speaking will be Katy Cosgrove, Government lead for Routine Enquiry for Domestic Abuse, Harry Purser, Head of Health Intelligence NHS Lothian and Dr Christine Goodall, Honorary Consultant Oral Surgeon at Glasgow University Dental School and one of the founders of Medics Against Violence.

If you would like to attend the conference, please fill in this form or download this form and return it to the Violence Reduction Unit as soon as possible.

Safety 2010 World Conference

Tuesday 21 - Friday 24 September 2010, Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London

Safety 2010 is a major world conference bringing together stakeholders in the prevention of unintentional injuries and violence from around the world.

The key theme of the conference is Safe and Equitable Communities. This theme has been chosen to reflect the disproportionate burden from almost all types of injuries that falls on poorer communities.

For more information, go to http://www.safety2010.org.uk/

Violence Against Children conference – Children 1st

Wednesday 29^th September 2010, Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow

This conference will explore the causes of violence, consider what we know about the impacts of violence on children and young people, examine good practice around prevention of violence and discuss what more can and should be done.

The voices of children and young people will be represented through calls to ChildLine in Scotland as well as through feedback from our services and we will also hear from parents who use our ParentLine Scotland helpline.

In addition, the conference will hear from experts across Scotland covering topics such as tackling the route causes of violence, the impact on childhood development, bullying, domestic violence and knife crime and gang culture and the implications for practice development and service delivery.

This conference will be of interest to a wide range of practitioners, managers and other professionals across all organisations who work in the fields of violence reduction, early years and family support, including those from health, social care, education, police, youth justice, community safety, voluntary sector, academics, policy makers and anyone with an interest in this area.

For more details, please contact Belinda Robertson on 0131 446 2337 or email:belinda.robertson@children1st.org.uk

Medics Against Violence Charity Masked Ball

Friday, 19 November 2010, 7pm, Radisson Hotel, Argyle Street, Glasgow

Set up by three Scottish surgeons who had grown tired of seeing the outcomes of often preventable violent attacks on their operating tables, Medics Against Violence (MAV) aims to educate people about the consequences of violence and how they can avoid them. One of the ways they do this is through speaking to young people, giving them the information they need to make the right decision should they ever be faced with a situation that could turn violent. To date, MAV have spoken to over 5000 young people, but to make a real difference, they need to speak to many more.

To help raise vital funds, MAV are holding a masked ball at the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow, in November. The black tie event features a champagne reception, three course dinner with wine, a charity auction and a ceilidh band. Tickets for the event are £70

For more details or to book, please contact Lauren Thompson on 0141 532 5805 or email admin@medicsagainstviolence.co.uk.