Whole Health London

London is a leader in health-based domestic abuse innovation, with significant recent investment in the capital, notably through the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in primary care settings and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac)’s uplift funding for Independent domestic violence advisors (Idvas) in hospital settings. However, gaps remain in provision across London and we know there is more to do improve the response to survivors of domestic abuse to get them safer sooner, as well as to reduce the costs of a crisis response at a later stage.

Read the Whole Health London report: We only do bones here

Key findings

• Domestic abuse has a devastating effect on the health and wellbeing of victims and families, and costs society £66 billion per year – of which more than £2 billion is borne by health services.
• We estimate that 241,000 women and 120,000 men experienced domestic abuse in the past year in London, on the basis of Crime Survey of England and Wales estimates that 7.3 per cent of women aged 16-64 and 3.6 per cent of men in the same age bracket experienced domestic abuse between March 2019 and March 2020.
• 425,480 children and young people in London will have experienced domestic abuse by the time they are an adult.
• We estimate there are around 45,750 female survivors of domestic abuse working for the NHS just in London.
• We estimate around 88,000 Londoners received medical attention following partner abuse in the last 12 months.
• The estimated health service costs of domestic abuse in London equals £433 million per year.
• One in ten offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police involves domestic abuse.
• Only one in five people experiencing abuse ever calls the police but victims will be accessing every hospital, GP surgery and mental health setting every day, while children and their parents will be being supported every day in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), health visiting services and by school nurses.

For the full findings and further details, see the full report ‘We Only Do Bones Here’.

Domestic abuse has a profound impact on our physical and mental health. It is vital that health services are an active part of the solution to give victims the help they so urgently need.

The Whole Health London project builds on the findings of the Pathfinder Project, which sought to embed a ‘whole health’ approach to domestic abuse in eight sites across England.

We are calling for a ‘whole health’ approach to create better provision for survivors in all health settings, across all London boroughs. This strategy will mean over-stretched healthcare professionals will receive the support they need to adequately help victims, and victims won’t face a postcode lottery when it comes to accessing services.

Phase 2

A key finding from Phase One of the Whole Health London project demonstrated how the specific needs of migrant victims were not being recognised across the capital, many of whom faced additional barriers to safety and support due to a lack of access to housing assistance or vulnerability around their immigration status.  

Migrant survivors who do seek help through healthcare teams are often concerned that the GP will request proof of address, or the A&E team will raise the prospect of large bills post-treatment, even though migrant victims should be exempted under The National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015.  

The pressure migrant victims of domestic abuse are under has also increased: new legislation, Government messaging and intense media focus has sought to foster hostility towards migrant communities, increasing isolation – and the fear that anyone seeking support will face negative and severe consequences 

With these specific barriers in mind, we are continuing this vital work, supported by further funding from the City Bridge Foundation, with a specific focus on the experiences of migrant victims in London and the response by healthcare settings.  

This project started in 2025 and will run until December 2027, and aims to make lasting, positive changes so that migrant survivors can feel safer and better supported when using health services across London.  

SafeLives has partnered with Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) who bring their experience and expertise in supporting Latin American and other racialised migrant women. LAWRS have also focused on the wider healthcare challenges faced by migrant communities in their 2023 report, The Right to Healthcare.  

In the project’s first year, LAWRS recruited 10 migrant women to join a survivor panel. The survivor panel will shape the direction of the work, sharing and discussing the barriers they faced, highlight training gaps and shaping advocacy messaging and routes to support.  

A Steering Group complements the work led by the survivor panel by contributing professional experience. We have around 15 organisations on the Steering Group, including frontline organisations, advocacy and research organisations and health and statutory service representatives.  

Health is often forgotten as a critical partner when it comes to ending domestic abuse, but the Government’s 2025 VAWG Strategy reaffirmed the key role health must play in tackling domestic abuse. In January 2026, we have seen the narrative changing with debates held on ‘The role of the NHS in preventing domestic homicides and domestic abuse-related deaths’. We briefed MPs on our projects in this space ahead of the debate, and our Whole Health London first report, ‘We only do bones here’ was referenced along with our previous healthcare work on investing in domestic abuse services in hospitals; ‘A Cry for Health’.