Stabbings behind hundreds of Nottinghamshire hospital admissions

Assaults with knives and other sharp objects led to hundreds of hospital admissions involving Nottinghamshire residents in less than a decade, figures show.
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Anti-knife crime charity The Ben Kinsella Trust said young people were being failed as figures reveal more than 761 serious knife crimes in Nottinghamshire in a year – including three murders and 10 knife-related rapes or sexual offences.

The trust has called for more to be done to educate children about the impact of knife crime, with two in five stabbing admissions across England involving young people.

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Between April 2012 and March 2021, there were about 710 admissions of patients from Nottinghamshire following an assault with a sharp object, according NHS Digital.

In Nottinghamshire police recorded 761 serious knife crimes, including three murders, 416 assaults involving injury and 10 knife-related rapes or sexual offences in 12 months..In Nottinghamshire police recorded 761 serious knife crimes, including three murders, 416 assaults involving injury and 10 knife-related rapes or sexual offences in 12 months..
In Nottinghamshire police recorded 761 serious knife crimes, including three murders, 416 assaults involving injury and 10 knife-related rapes or sexual offences in 12 months..

Of those, about 42 per cent involved people aged under 25.

About 80 admissions followed attacks on Nottinghamshire residents in 2020-21.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said knife crime was a policing priority nationally and early intervention played a vital role in stopping young people from becoming involved in crime.

An NPCC spokesman said: “Preventing people from carrying knives is not something police forces can do alone – it requires schools, charities, the health service and community groups to work together.

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“It is through engagement and working with partners that we can deliver long-lasting change and ensure young people can see the devastating effects carrying a knife can have.”

English NHS hospitals have recorded more than 38,000 hospital admissions of patients from police force areas in both England and Wales since 2012-13 – 40 per cent of them involving young people.

And youngsters accounted for the same proportion of 4,000 hospital admissions recorded nationally in 2020-21.

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Failing

Patrick Green, trust chief executive officer, said the statistics were ‘shocking’.

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He said: “These figures show knife crime remains a significant problem for the criminal justice system and the NHS, but more worryingly, they show we are failing to protect young people.

“We need to do far more to educate young people about the dangers of knife crime.”

Separate Home Office crime figures for England and Wales show 262 people lost their lives to a blade in the year to June, with nearly 47,000 serious knife crimes recorded in that time.

In Nottinghamshire, police recorded 761 serious knife crimes over the same period, including three murders, 416 assaults involving injury and 10 knife-related rapes or sexual offences.

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The NPCC spokesman said tactics such as stop and search and the targeting of habitual knife carriers contributed to the rising number of offensive weapon crimes nationally.

He said: "We believe that with the addition of officers to the service and investment into new violence reduction units, informed by active communities, we can play our role in preventing more tragic deaths.”

A Government spokesman said the introduction of a Serious Violence Duty would ensure all parts of the public sector worked together to protect people from harm.

He said: “Every life lost to knife crime is a tragedy that didn’t have to happen.

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“That’s why we are putting 20,000 more police officers on our streets and giving them greater powers of stop and search, so more dangerous weapons can be seized and more lives saved.”

Nottinghamshire Police has not responded to a request for comment.