Victims of violence are to be given advice on alcohol and aggression while receiving their medical treatment thanks to a pioneering new scheme.

Nurses based at Glasgow’s Dental Hospital are being trained to give victims of facial injury – such as knife wounds – a brief talk on the consequences of alcohol and violence at two Scots hospitals: the Southern General and Monklands District Hospital.

The 12 month trial is a joint initiative with Glasgow University’s Dental School alcohol research group - this is a multi-disciplinary group, chaired by Professor Ashraf Ayoub, consisting of surgeons, psychologists, psychiatrists, statisticians and nurses – and the Violence Reduction Unit.

In the UK, almost a quarter of all facial injuries are associated with interpersonal violence, while half of these are associated with alcohol.

Mr David Koppel, a Consultant Craniofacial surgeon, and Clinical Director of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital, explained:

“Hospitals in Glasgow treat a serious facial injury every six hours, while our nurses help care for around 600 victims every year.

“The incidence of alcohol-related facial injury in the west of Scotland is higher than in the rest of the UK. Most of the injuries result from inter-personal violence and there is a high incidence of victims returning with similar injuries.

“My colleagues and I treat some horrific facial injuries, from bruising and swelling to fractures, right up the scale to nerve damage and permanent scarring.”

It is hoped the pilot study, which has been funded by the Violence Reduction Unit, will address both drinking and aggressive behaviour in victims with alcohol related facial injury.

Three hundred patients of alcohol related facial trauma will take part in the year-long study – the first of its kind in the UK.

Dr Christine Goodall is a clinical lecturer in Oral Surgery at Glasgow University Dental School. She is co-ordinating the pilot project, and explained:

“Patients will be provided with either an alcohol intervention which we know will help some people reduce their alcohol intake, or a new intervention designed to help patients recognise and avoid potentially violent events in the future. Both of these interventions will be provided by trained nurses, and patients will be followed up for a year afterwards.

“Clearly the study is just getting off the ground, but if successful, it has the potential to prevent a significant number of recurrent injuries each year and to reduce both the human cost of injury and the actual costs to the health service.”

The initiative is being launched during a year-long anti-violence campaign led by the Violence Reduction Unit.

Karyn McCluskey, co-director of the Violence Reduction Unit, said:

“We have repeatedly stressed that the police alone cannot solve such a deep rooted culture of violence. However, by working together with our partners in the health service and elsewhere, we can begin to make significant inroads.”

She added:
“This only a pilot study and it will of course be evaluated, however, it is important that we use innovative methods to try and influence and change attitudes and behaviour to knife carrying.”

A world expert in this field, Jonathan Shepherd, Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery from the University of Wales is acting as an adviser to the pilot, he said:

“Achieving funding for this project is a great achievement. The face is the target in violence across the UK, which means that the results of this research will be helpful nationally.”