Streatham Liberal Democrats support Anti-Knife Crime scheme

3.14.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 8th Apr 2009

Chris Nicholson and the Liberal Democrat team in Streatham are calling on St. George's Hospital in Tooting and Mayday Hospital in Croydon to do their part to tackle knife crime by taking part in a new scheme that could drastically cut the number of incidents.

Chris Nicholson has written to the hospitals in question demanding that the schemes be implemented as soon as possible.

43 young people lost their lives as a result of knife crime last year. 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.

But only 25 of the 123 NHS trusts which responded to Freedom of Information requests are following the Cardiff Model, and this does not include St. George's or the Mayday Hospital, both of which serve Streatham residents.

"Hopefully these hospitals will realise this data allows police to do their job and identify knife crime blackspots, thereby making this area safer for everyone," commented Chris Nicholson.