CURV Funding
Cleveland received notification of 3 years Violence Reduction Unit funding by the Home Office in April 2022. In Cleveland, the unit is called CURV – Cleveland Unit for the Reduction of Violence.
The Funding has enabled the PCC to establish a team to develop a long-term joined-up, preventative approach to tackling serious violence, with the Commissioner’s office taking a leading role in bringing together organisations and agencies.
In accordance with Home Office grant arrangements, there is a requirement for CURV to fund a range of prevention, early intervention, and tertiary interventions.
This Serious Violence Funding aims to prevent young people and adults from becoming involved in serious and violent crime including at the tertiary stage.
The key aims of this this funding are to deliver:
- Reductions in Serious Violence Offences
- Reductions in hospital admissions for assaults with a sharp object
- Reductions in homicides
Activities and interventions supported by this funding are to link with the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) toolkit of interventions and especially those deemed ‘high impact’ in reduction of serious violence and should include; a focus on youth violence in public spaces and seek to steer young people away from serious violence, crime, or potential harm.
A&E Navigators
A&E navigators are highlighted as a high impact intervention (primarily tertiary) by YEF and have already been delivered in various areas throughout the United Kingdom.
A&E navigator programmes place a case worker, called a ‘navigator’, in hospital emergency rooms to support children and young people with a violence-related injury. Programmes can recruit navigators from a range of backgrounds including youth work, social work, nursing, probation, and medicine. Navigators try to develop trusting relationships with the injured parties, provide informal mentoring, and help them access services.
There are many ways in which A&E navigator programmes may prevent children/clients becoming involved in crime and violence. Being a victim of violence is strongly associated with future involvement in violence. Providing support in the aftermath of an incident could protect vulnerable children from this vicious cycle. Young people may also trust navigators more than other agencies so may be more open to engaging with services.
Funding
Discussions have taken place with the Alcohol Care Team (ACT) within South Tees Hospital Trust to enter into a partnership agreement to add two (2) Serious Violence (SV) Navigators to the ACT team within James Cook’s A&E departments. All parties agreed to this in a joint meeting on the 5th June 2023.
Prior to the above, it was agreed and ratified at CURV’s Strategic Delivery Group on 10th May to fund in partnership with the ACT team at James Cook Hospital NHS Trust, two (2) Serious Violence Navigators. The group includes partners from, Cleveland Police, Probation, NHS, and the Local Authorities.
As part of this funding allocation, and as per the service specification:
- CURV is jointly commissioning a hospital intervention and community intervention service across Cleveland in partnership with the NHS ACT Team. The service will comprise of 2 Full Time (FTE) ‘Navigators’, with appropriate administrative, management and IT support to work alongside and with Recovery Officers within ACT. There is an expectation that the Team will be flexible to demand, identify and utilise community and partnership spaces.
- The Service will build on and complement effective partnership working with and between community providers, statutory partners and the hospital.