Hospitals and Knife Crime

11.38.23am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 27th Apr 2009

Liberal Democrats in Wolverhampton are calling on New Cross Hospital to do their part to tackle knife crime by taking part in a new scheme that could drastically cut the number of incidents.

43 young people died from knife crime last year throughout the country and local campaigners believe there is a strong case for hospital accident and emergency units and the police to work together to identify knife crime blackspots.

The 'Cardiff Model', established in 2002, collects data from Accident and Emergency wards about the precise locations and times of violent incidents and shares them anonymously with the police. This new approach has led to a 40% drop in knife crime in some areas.

The figures, contained in replies to Freedom of Information requests, shows that:

· Only 25 of the 123 NHS trusts which responded to Freedom of Information requests are following the Cardiff Model

· The situation is no better in the nine areas in England taking part in the Tackling Knives Action Programme, where only 10 out of 58 trusts (17.2%) are following the Cardiff Model

· Three areas had no trusts using the model - Essex, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire