Asato has spent her career tackling VAWG and safeguarding children. Before being elected as an MP, she worked as the head of policy and public affairs at children's charity Barnardo's and also worked for domestic abuse charity SafeLives. Throughout her career, she has championed evidence-based approaches to protecting vulnerable children and women, combining frontline understanding with policy expertise to create lasting impact.

She has been tasked with reforming culture of the NHS and ensuring women experiencing violence are identified and supported at the earliest opportunity.

Asato will also lead on work to integrate VAWG services into new neighbourhood health centres.

She will work with teams across the health system, NHS England, and officials from other government departments.

Health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said: ‘Violence against women and girls is a stain on our society and tackling it is everyone's problem – including the NHS.

‘We think of these as hidden crimes, but we know that in most interactions with the NHS and other institutions the signs are there if we have the training, tools and the will to look.

‘Jess Asato will use her expertise in protecting women and children from vile abuse to ensure victims across the NHS are spotted sooner and given the help they need.'

Asato will focus on three priorities over the next six months; how to reduce the impact of alcohol on violence against women and girls, embedding VAWG support into neighbourhood health services, so women and girls can be easily connected to specialist support and improving how violence against women and girls services are commissioned, to ensure the right help is in the right place.

Asato said: ‘VAWG isn't just a criminal justice issue, it's a public health emergency. When we strengthen healthcare systems to identify abuse early, support survivors, challenge perpetrators and address the trauma that fuels cycles of harm, we make communities safer. Ensuring health is not an add-on to prevention; it is a core part of the solution.'

Minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Jess Phillips, said: ‘Violence against women and girls is not inevitable – it is preventable. And to achieve our mission of halving it within a decade, we need a whole-society approach.

‘The appointment of Jess Asato as an adviser is an important step towards ensuring the NHS can spot abuse sooner and connect victims to the support they need.'

The appointment follows the rollout of mandatory safeguarding training for all NHS staff, which includes domestic abuse.

It comes ahead of the publication of the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which will set out how we will tackle VAWG across government.