The Ministry of Health has published a Family Violence Assessment and Intervention Guideline: child abuse and intimate partner violence for health care providers.

Th Guideline is described as a practical tool to help health providers make safe and effective interventions to assist victims of interpersonal violence and abuse.

The ministry says it has been written as a generic health professional guideline, setting out principles of intervention that will apply to a number of health professions and a number of clinical settings.

The guideline presents a six step model for identifying and responding to family violence within health care settings.

Given the co-occurrence of partner abuse and child abuse, the guidelines also outlines an integrated response to addressing both of these issues. The guidelines have been endorsed by a number of health professional and family violence intervention organisations.