New advisor to support earlier NHS help for women and girls experiencing violence

The government has appointed a new advisor tasked with ensuring women and girls experiencing violence are identified and supported at the earliest opportunity.

Labour MP for Lowestoft Jess Asato will help drive forward the government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade and ‘reform’ the culture of the NHS within this area.

As Violence Against Women and Girls Adviser, Ms Asato will help embed support for victims and survivors in the government’s new neighbourhood health centres – designed to be ‘one stop shops’ bringing together nurses, GPs, pharmacists and other services ‘under one roof’.

She will also advise on how alcohol is linked to violence against women and girls and work to improve local commissioning of services that support women and girls impacted by violence.

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Formerly an advisor on domestic abuse and child protection, the government said Ms Asato will use her expertise to ensure victims across the NHS are ‘spotted sooner and given the help they need’.

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Violence against women and girls is a stain on our society and tackling it is everyone’s problem – including the NHS.

‘We think of these as hidden crimes, but we know that in most interactions with the NHS and other institutions the signs are there if we have the training, tools and the will to look.’

According to government figures, around 3.8 million people aged 16 and over experienced domestic abuse, 1.4 million experienced stalking and 900,000 experienced sexual assault, including attempted offences, in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025.

Ms Asato said she was ‘honoured’ to have been asked to advise in this area.

‘Violence against women and girls isn’t just a criminal justice issue, it’s a public health emergency,’ she said.

‘When we strengthen healthcare systems to identify abuse early, support survivors, challenge perpetrators and address the trauma that fuels cycles of harm, we make communities safer. Ensuring health is not an add-on to prevention; it is a core part of the solution.’

Ms Asato has dedicated much of her career tackling violence against women and girls and safeguarding children, and before being elected as an MP, she worked as the head of policy and public affairs at children’s charity Barnardo’s. She has also worked for domestic abuse charity SafeLives.

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In her new advisory role, Ms Asato will work with teams across the health system, NHS England, and officials from other government departments.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the role recognised that the ‘health system has an important part to play in providing treatment for victims and open access support through NHS services’.

Minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Jess Phillips, added: ‘Violence against women and girls is not inevitable – it is preventable. And to achieve our mission of halving it within a decade, we need a whole-society approach.

‘The appointment of Jess Asato as an adviser is an important step towards ensuring the NHS can spot abuse sooner and connect victims to the support they need.’

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The news comes ahead of the publication of the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy which will set out how the issue will be tackled across government.