Duchess visits London Bridge victims

● Hospital staff upset by the number of women stabbed in latest terrorist attack

The Duchess of Cambridge has met victims of the London Bridge terror attack and hospital staff who were on duty that night.

Kate visited King’s College Hospital yesterday and spoke to six patients who are still being treated.

In total, 14 people were admitted to the hospital after the attack on Saturday 3 June, predominantly suffering from stab wounds.

The duchess spoke to doctors and nurses who were working at the time.

Speaking about the night, head of nursing Lynne Watkins-hulme said: “What was really noticeable on Saturday night was the amount of female patients that were involved.

“That was quite traumatic for the staff. We are not used to so many females being injured.”

She added: “We are used to seeing people who are stabbed.

“But to have six women who were stabbed, multiple times – it was just the amount of people – that was upsetting.”

Many of the staff who tended to patients after the London Bridge atrocity were also working on 22 March when Khalid Masood killed five people in an attack on Westminster Bridge. The duchess said: “To go through this sort of event twice, it is quite unprecedented.”

She also spoke to emergency consultant Malcolm Tunnicliff, who had been on his way home from playing cricket when he heard news of the incident and made his way to the hospital.

He said: “We are very, very used to dealing with stabbings in this area.

“We are one of the busiest hospitals in western Europe for dealing with penetrating injuries, but it was the volume and it is usually young men that stab each other, and there were quite a lot of ladies who were stabbed.

“We got through a lot of kit in an hour and a half. Probably what we go through in a week.”

Asked what he took from the duchess visiting, Dr Tunnicliff said: “The dedication of all the staff, and actually how resilient they are and they are very proud to work for King’s, and the NHS for that matter.

“It is nice when you have got someone like the Duchess of Cambridge who comes along. It was only four or five weeks ago Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall came along, and it gives the patients a lift, it gives the staff a lift that they’re being recognised.

“And actually, all staff in the NHS want these days is just to be recognised for what they do, because they get knocked for so much.

“Someone like that coming along and recognising that, it is a massive lift.”

Meanwhile, another arrest has been made in the investigation into the London Bridge attack, bringing the number now held to seven.

A 19-year-old man was held on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts following a raid at an address in Barking, east London, at 9:50pm on Sunday, Scotland Yard said.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command are searching the address and another in Barking where a 28-year-old manwasarrestedonsaturday. 0 The Duchess of Cambridge met victims and hospital staff