Violence Research: National Violence Surveillance Network

The National Violence Surveillance Network has over 100 (types 1, 2 and 4) Emergency Departments in England and Wales providing data on violence-related attendances on an annual basis. Data are retrieved by attendance date, age group and gender, and used for the study of rates and trends in violence.

Official police violence statistics and violence surveys have traditionally been the only national sources of information about violent crime in England and Wales.

Several single-centre studies based in local Emergency Departments (EDs) have demonstrated the potential for measuring violence using ED data. From the public health perspective, this is an essential step in refining an NHS-based national data source to identify local and national trends in community violence.

The project started in 2002 and is ongoing. It is an annual exercise with a report published every April.

Project aims

The aims of this project are to:

• study trends in community violence in England and Wales from an injury perspective
• complement two other national violence sources:
  • Crime Survey of England and Wales
  • Police Records

Investigators

Principal investigator

Co-Investigators

Research team

The research team consists of:

• Professor Jonathan Shepherd
• Dr Nicholas Page

Further information

For more information on this project, contact: