For National Stalking Awareness Week 2025 (22-25 April), the theme is 'Health Response: Spotting Stalking'. 

We will be highlighting how specialist stalking services can work together with the healthcare sector to recognise victims of stalking and ensure they access the support they need – whether they be patients or members of staff themselves. Like other forms of violence against women and girls, stalking is a public health issue and requires a whole systems approach. Through training, guidance and improved referral pathways, our goal is to support the healthcare sector and ensure victims get specialist help.

This is an emerging and collaborative campaign. Please fill out the following form if you want to be involved in upcoming work: https://forms.office.com/e/nHcytP9DBs 

Report

Suzy Lamplugh Trust sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England to better understand the services provided to victims of stalking, alongside a survey distributed to healthcare professionals. The results reveal that while previous research shows that 95% of stalking victims report mental health challenges, only 7% of healthcare professionals feel very confident in identifying stalking cases. None of the 41 NHS ICBs who responded could identify services commissioned for stalking victims.

The National Stalking Consortium urges the government to translate their commitment to halve VAWG into adequate funding for both the healthcare and specialist stalking sectors, ensuring a coordinated ‘whole health’ response to stalking. Without this collective effort, the response to stalking will remain fragmented, and victims will continue to fall through the cracks. 

Read the full report here 

We have created a poster for healthcare professionals on how to identify and refer patients to specialist stalking services. We encourage you to share this with your network, and in your workplace if you are a healthcare professional. There are two versions of the poster – one for closed spaces such as staff break rooms and one for public spaces such as waiting rooms. Please consider which is appropriate for your setting.  

 

Download our poster for healthcare professionals

If you are a healthcare professional who is interested in providing talks or training for you team, contact us at [email protected].