7 OUT OF 10 HOSPITALS FAILING TO HELP POLICE TACKLE KNIFE CRIME SAYS CHRIS HUHNE

70% of NHS hospitals in England are still failing to provide police forces with information that has been proven to significantly cut knife crime, according to research by the Liberal Democrats.

This is a marginal improvement on last year, when 80% of hospitals were not sharing this information.

In the ‘Cardiff Model’, A&E wards in the city have collected information about the precise locations and times of violent incidents and shared it anonymously with the police since 2002. This led to a 40% fall in violent assaults in the first five years.

The research, collected through Freedom of Information requests, shows:

• Only 44 of the 143 hospital trusts (31%) in England that have replied to the request are following the Cardiff Model
• The situation is no better in the nine areas in England taking part in the Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP), where only 18 out of 55 trusts (32%) are following the Cardiff Model. Essex had no trusts using the model
• Violence actually increased during the first year of the TKAP. Hospital admissions for violence increased by 3% in TKAP areas and by 3.1% in other areas between 2008 and 2009

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: “It is shameful that a year after we first brought this issue to the Government’s attention, seven out of 10 hospital trusts are still not sharing this vital data with the police.

“It beggars belief why anyone would ignore best practice of this kind which drastically reduces woundings.

“There is no point Labour and the Tories posturing on penalties when they won’t even endorse a proven method of what works to cut knife crime.

“Labour is missing an open goal to reduce the damage caused by the Booze Britain they have created.

“Ministers claim to be tackling knife crime but they’re not even following the Cardiff Model in their flagship TKAP areas, where violence is actually on the increase.

“Heads at the Department of Health and the Home Office must be knocked together to ensure that the Cardiff Model is used in every emergency ward in the country.”