Knife crime up and victims suffer more wounds
SPECIALIST surgeons are treating rising numbers of knife crime victims with multiple stab wounds and life-threatening injuries, research revealed yesterday.
Trauma doctors are finding young people are being stabbed as many as 10 times in a single attack.
And NHS figures showed 2,278 people were treated for serious knife wounds in 2017/18 – up 34 per cent from 1,697 in 2015/16.
Dr Ross Davenport, a consultant trauma and vascular surgeon at the Royal London Hospital in east London, said: “We’ve seen a sustained year-on-year increase in the number of young people and adults brought to the Royal London’s major trauma centre with stab injuries. Previously we used to see one or two wounds per victim, now we are frequently seeing multiple wounds – five or sometimes 10 stab injuries on a single patient.
“Life-changing and fatal injuries are possible from a stab wound anywhere.”
Figures from nine of the 11 regional NHS trauma centres across the UK confirmed the dramatic rise in surgeons tackling serious knife crimes.
The number of cases involved both adults and children. But both rose markedly in 2017/18, with the number of young adult victims rising 37 per cent, while child victims rose by 24.4 per cent.
Surgeons, during the midst of the violent crime crisis this summer, warned they were low on blood supplies while paramedics admitted they were wearing stab vests to protect themselves from gang attacks. Dr Taj Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The rise in knife crime in England is a source of serious concern both for the society we live in and for those of us who have to care for the injured and their relatives.
“Victims of knife crime have a wide spectrum of presentations, especially those who suffer chest injuries. “Patients can have a seemingly innocuous stabbing, be initially well and then deteriorate rapidly.”
King’s College Hospital in London accounts for just a under a fifth of all trauma treatments last year.
Consultant Dr Malcom Tunnicliff said: “The majority of knife crime victims we treat are young adults. Much of what we do before they get to hospital and in the emergency department stabilises these victims and prevents many from requiring surgical intervention.
“These days we also use interventional radiology much more, which can often stop bleeding from vessels and organs.”