Hospital Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (HIDVA)

IDVA stands for Independent Domestic Violence Advocates. They are experts in domestic abuse, prioritising your safety in every aspect of their work through practical and emotional support. A Hospital IDVA (HIDVA), provides this service within a hospital setting.

Yes, all of Rising Sun’s services are provided to victim-survivors free of charge.

Rising Sun is a registered charity, working to provide lifesaving support to adults and children experiencing and surviving domestic abuse. We are incredibly grateful to our funders and supporters who enable us to provide our specialist services for free.

If you’re able to help us to continue being here for more victim-survivors in the future, please consider donating today.

You can receive support from a Rising Sun HIDVA in the following hospitals:

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust:

• Kent and Canterbury Hospital in Canterbury
• William Harvey Hospital in Ashford
• Buckland Hospital in Dover

You can reach HIDVAs for the above hospitals on: 07384 166190 or east.kent.hidva@rsdvp.cjsm.net

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust:

• Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford

You can reach HIDVAs for the above hospital on: 07436 583412 or dvh.hidva@nhs.net

If you’d like to receive support from a HIDVA, please ask your nurse or doctor. Alternatively, you can call the team directly to receive support using the phone numbers above.

Yes. Whilst Rising Sun provides the HIDVA service in Kent & Canterbury, William Harvey, Buckland and Darent Valley Hospital, you will also be able to receive support from HIDVAs in the following hospitals:

• Queen Elizabeth’s Queen Mother’s Hospital (QEQM) – east.kent.hidva@oasis.cjsm.net / 07753 447706
• Maidstone & Pembury Hospital – natasha.jefferson1@nhs.net / 07464 928092
• Medway Hospital – rebecca.exall2@nhs.net / 07864 961715 or 07594 520370
• Kent & Medway Partnership Trust – kerry.wallace5@nhs.net / 07824 503975

Rising Sun HIDVAs work the following hours:

Monday – Thursday: 9:00am – 5:00pm

Friday: 9:00am – 10:00pm

Saturday & Sunday: 9:00am – 5:00pm

If support is required outside of these hours, you can call 0808 2000 247  and email the HIDVA team for the case to be picked up the following working day.

Please see below the phone numbers for the HIDVAs at each of the hospitals that we provide support within:

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust:

• Kent and Canterbury Hospital in Canterbury
• William Harvey Hospital in Ashford
• Buckland Hospital in Dover

You can reach HIDVAs for the above hospitals on: 07384 166190 or east.kent.hidva@rsdvp.cjsm.net

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust:

• Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford

You can reach HIDVAs for the above hospital on: 07436 583412 or dvh.hidva@nhs.net

We do! Our team of HIDVA’s are located within hospitals to support you towards safety. They can offer practical and emotional support in various ways from informing you of your options to submitting necessary reports to the police or other agencies. HIDVA’s can also refer you to our other more long term support options, such as IDVA or Outreach support. They can also advocate on your behalf with other agencies, including police, refuge, housing and health services to support your safety after leaving hospital.

Whether you’re attending the hospital for an appointment, are an inpatient or are visiting A&E, a HIDVA can come and provide you with specialist domestic abuse support in your appointment, at your bedside or in a discreet manner.

We do! We recognise that it’s not only patients that need specialist domestic abuse support. Our HIDVAs ensure staff across the hospitals that we provide our service in, who are at risk of or are experiencing domestic abuse, are also able to receive specialist support to reach safety.

Hospital staff can get in touch with a HIDVA and ask for support, and all support will be confidential in line with our safeguarding policy.

Yes we can. If a client that you’re supporting has been admitted to one of the hospitals that we work within, we can offer them specialist domestic support during their time as a patient, and can then refer them into their local domestic abuse service when they are discharged to continue their journey of support in the community.

Whilst we can only support patients within the hospitals that we are contracted to, we can support other professionals in providing domestic abuse support if a HIDVA is not available in that hospital.

We would always recommend that you speak to the Safeguarding Team within the hospital, and enquire about whether they have a HIDVA service in their hospital.

Yes you can. We are available to have chats with friends and family members who would like to raise concerns about their loved one, whether they’re a patient or a staff member at the hospital. We can have conversations discretely, they can be anonymous and we don’t have to take any action following the conversation.

Please note: if you raise a serious safeguarding issue, we may have to take further action in line with our safeguarding policy.