Suzy Lamplugh Trust research finds that NHS Integrated Care Boards are not aware of commissioning services for stalking victims, leaving patients and healthcare professionals at risk.

  
While 95% of stalking victims report mental health challenges, only 7% of healthcare professionals feel very confident in identifying stalking cases.

 
London, UK – 22nd April 2025: Research by Suzy Lamplugh Trust reveals that, although stalking victims are reaching out to healthcare services for help, professionals are not receiving training or guidance to help spot stalking and refer them into specialist stalking services for support.
Suzy Lamplugh Trust sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards in England to better understand the services provided to victims of stalking (1), alongside a survey distributed to healthcare professionals (2). The key findings were as follows:

• None of the 41 NHS ICBs who responded could identify any services they commissioned for stalking victims, nor could they identify any staff training that they commissioned that specifically addresses stalking (3).
• Only 7% of healthcare professionals feel very confident in their ability to identify a patient who may be experiencing stalking.
• 85% of healthcare professionals did not know what specialist stalking services existed and where to refer for specialist support.

Yet 95% of victims say stalking has impacted their psychological and mental health, with many actively seeking support to manage their symptoms (4). While 78% of stalking victims report symptoms consistent with PTSD, only 24% are assessed for this. These findings raise alarm, not only because of the increase in both the immediate risks to the patient's safety and prolonging the psychological impacts of stalking, but also because of the heightened risk to healthcare professionals themselves (5). Stalking shatters lives; it destroys victims’ careers, health and can even result in homicide (6).

The NHS is overstretched and cannot be expected to tackle stalking alone. However, early intervention is proven to be cost effective and curbs the financial and human costs of failing to identify and respond to stalking until the risk escalates further (7). We have therefore launched this campaign, Health Response: Spotting Stalking, to let the sector know that specialist stalking services are here to help them identify and support stalking victims. Together, we can spot stalking and save lives.

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.

   

Based on the report findings, Suzy Lamplugh Trust is making a number of policy recommendations including:

To the National Health Service and private health sector:

• Guidance: The public and private health sector must consult with specialists to develop national guidance for healthcare professionals to identify and respond to patients who are victims of stalking
• Training: The NHS Integrated Care Boards and private health sector must commission independent specialist stalking training for healthcare practitioners to identify and respond to victims of stalking.
• Workplace policies: The public and private health sector must consult with specialists to develop internal stalking policies and protocols that address the needs of employees across healthcare systems.

To the government:

• • Funding: The government to allocate £243,810,000 (8) ring-fenced funding for specialist stalking support services to be able to meet the needs of victims and the increasing demands posed by referrals from the police, CPS and healthcare.
  • Government commitment: The Home Office to include a specific cross-departmental multi-agency stalking plan within the forthcoming Tackling VAWG strategy, that sets out a whole systems approach to tackling stalking including the health sector.  

   

Suky Bhaker, CEO of Suzy Lamplugh Trust, says: “Stalking has far-reaching effects on victims’ health, but healthcare professionals lack the training and resources to identify it. We are calling on the government to provide the necessary resources to ensure that healthcare professionals can effectively support victims and work with specialist stalking services to better spot stalking amongst their patients and colleagues.”

Daniel W. Price-Jones, Lead Consultant Forensic Psychologist, Cheshire Constabulary's Harm Reduction Unit, says: "The cumulative impact of stalking over time is both persistent and pervasive; it impacts on all areas of the victim’s life. For many reasons, victims of stalking don’t report to the police until many incidents have occurred – if they report at all. Healthcare professionals are often the first point of contact victims may have with services, which provides professionals with an early opportunity to intervene, help, guide and support. It is vital that healthcare professionals are confident in identifying stalking and referring to specialist support."

Rhianon Bragg, victim of stalking, says: “It was the GP, not the criminal justice system, who saved our lives. They said they had a duty of care, and the police were called."

Ends        

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(1) 41 out of 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards responded to the following FOI request: can you please provide details of the grants awarded by your Integrated Care Board in the financial years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, which include at least one output or outcome that relates to support for victims of stalking?
For the purpose of this request, support may look like a variety of activities (e.g. counselling, information and advice, casework, perpetrator intervention programmes, or staff training), however, there must be specific reference to working with victims of stalking.. 

(2)The survey, aimed at healthcare professionals in the UK, was conducted by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in February 2025. A total of 271 individuals responded to the survey. The findings presented in this report are based on the experiences of those who chose to engage with the survey and are therefore not intended to be a definitive or fully representative picture of the experience of healthcare professionals in the UK.

(3) Despite this, Suzy Lamplugh Trust are aware of at least two specific NHS Trusts who fund aspects of a MASIP. This signals a need for greater information sharing, transparency and consistency at the ICB level to end a postcode lottery system and ensure no victims of stalking fall through the gaps.

(4) A survey study of stalking victims’ experiences of the health-related effects of stalking and their experiences of engaging with health care practitioners (2023), available at: https://doi.org/10.53841/bpshpu.2023.32.1.27

(5) The Stalking of Psychiatrists (2011) available at: https://doi:10.1080/14999013.2011.599097 

(6) Exploring the relationship between Stalking and Homicide (2017) available at: https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/4553/1/NSAW%20Report%2004.17%20-%20finalsmall.pdf

(7) MASIP Evaluation: Final Report (2020), available at: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10097009/1/MASIP%20evaluation%20final%20report%20v2.6.pdf

(8) 10 Years of the National Stalking Consortium (2024) available at: https://www.suzylamplugh.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=100ad3ed-56ed-4343-909e-797b15e1cc73

(9) ONS. 2024. “Crime in England and Wales: Annual supplementary tables.” Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesannualsupplementarytables/march2024/annualsupplementarytablesmarch24final.xlsx.

(10) This figure is an estimate calculated by using ONS population data and the percentage of people who say they have been stalked in the CSEW data. 3.2% of people in the past year have experienced stalking. 3.2% of 49,657,862 is 1,589,051.584. Rounded to 1 decimal place, that makes 1.6 million. ONS. 2024. “Estimates of the population for England and Wales”. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/estimatesofthepopulationforenglandandwales; and ONS. 2024. “Crime in England and Wales: Annual supplementary tables.” Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesannualsupplementarytables/march2024/annualsupplementarytablesmarch24final.xlsx.

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Authors of the report, representatives of Suzy Lamplugh Trust, and supporters are available for media comment by arrangement, please contact:           
Suzy Lamplugh Trust: [email protected]     

  
Editor’s Notes       

        
What is stalking?   

Stalking is defined by Suzy Lamplugh Trust as a pattern of fixated and obsessive behaviour which is repeated, persistent, intrusive and causes fear of violence or engenders alarm and distress in the victim. The behaviours can be offline (such as visiting the victim’s home or place of work, following the victim or leaving gifts), or online (such as unwanted social media communication, calls, texts, emails, hacking and spyware). Stalking affects 1 in 5 women and 1 in 11 men in their lifetimes (9). Last year, approximately 1.6 million adults (aged 16 and over) were victims of stalking in England and Wales (10).

Read more at: https://www.suzylamplugh.org/what-is-stalking

   

Suzy Lamplugh Trust:

Suzy Lamplugh Trust is a national personal safety charity set up after the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh over 35 years ago. Our mission is to reduce the risk of violence, aggression and abuse through campaigning, education, and support. The Trust campaigns for better protections for victims of violence, aggression and stalking in policy and law. Suzy Lamplugh Trust runs the National Stalking Helpline and Advocacy Service, the only stalking helpline service for all victims across the UK, set up in 2010. The Helpline and Advocacy Service have supported over 75,000 victims of stalking to date.   

   

National Stalking consortium:

Established in 2014, the National Stalking Consortium, chaired by Suzy Lamplugh Trust, brings together 21 specialist stalking organisations and individual members including victims and academics from across the UK. Every year, the Consortium collaborates on a National Stalking Awareness Week (NSAW) campaign that sheds light on issues relating to victims of stalking, pushing decision makers to improve provisions for stalking victims.