Injuries inflicted on women by their partners resulted in just 14 admissions at Worcestershire Hospitals over five years despite West Mercia Police recording tens of thousands of violent domestic abuse crimes.

Campaigners have warned that hospital admissions for abuse – which have risen steadily across England – are just 'the tip of the iceberg'.

NHS Digital data shows at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, there were between two and 14 admissions of female victims following abuse by a spouse or partner in the five years to March 2020.

Exact numbers are not available when there are fewer than eight cases a year, to protect patient identity.

Different data from the Home Office shows West Mercia Police recorded 51,387 violent domestic abuse crimes over the same period – a vastly greater figure.

The trust figures cover patients where the primary external cause of injury was a form of maltreatment, including physical or sexual abuse, mental cruelty or torture.

It means the victim could fall under another category if such abuse was listed as a secondary diagnosis.

Women's Aid, a charity supporting female victims of violence, says the number of women being admitted to hospital for domestic and sexual abuse is 'severely' under-reported nationally.

Farah Nazeer, chief executive, said: "An estimated 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2020, and the police recorded 758,941 domestic abuse crimes in the same year.

"Yet the number of hospital admissions for the same crimes remains disproportionately only in the hundreds each year."

Women's Aid says a health care setting may be a victim's first point of contact with a public service and is sometimes the only place where they can safely disclose their experience.

But despite this, the charity is concerned that some health professionals are 'not consistently identifying and recording' women experiencing domestic and sexual violence.

An NHS spokesperson said staff are offered safeguarding training to identify, advise and support victims and survivors, and 'further work is underway' to expand the availability of these services.