Kirk Calls on York Hospital to Help Tackle Knife Crime

1.09.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 15th Apr 2009

Liberal Democrats in York are calling on York Hospital to play their part in the national fight against knife crime. 43 young people died from knife crime last year throughout the country.

Local campaigners therefore believe there is a strong case for hospital accident and emergency units and the police to work together to identify knife crime blackspots.

And they point to the experience in Cardiff where information is routinely passed on to the police about locations where injuries caused by knife crime take place to back up their call for hospitals and police to work together.

As a result, police in Cardiff have been able to target the areas with the worst knife crime rates and have cut incidents by 40%.

"There is clear evidence that when hospitals help the police build up a picture of where knife crime is taking place, areas with the highest numbers of incidents can be tackled," said Madeleine Kirk, Prospective Lib Dem MP for York Outer.

"The Cardiff model allows for the information to be handed on by hospitals anonymously. The result is therefore a fall in knife crime by nearly half. Unfortunately, 4 out of 5 hospitals in England are not passing on this vital information to the police. Amongst them is York Hospital.

"I strongly urge a change in policy by York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust so that the thankfully very low risk of knife crime in York and the surrounding villages can be kept that way."

Information about hospital trusts and their approach to knife crime was revealed in Freedom of Information requests and research carried out by the Liberal Democrats in Parliament.