Knife attacks leading to large rise in hospital admissions

THE number of knife attacks putting people in hospital has soared in Leicestershire.

Figures from NHS Digital show there were around 70 admissions to hospitals run by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS trust in 2017/18 due assaults with knives and other sharp objects - the highest number since comparable records began six years ago.

The number of admissions has jumped from 50 in 2016/17, and is twice as high as the 37 recorded in 2012/13.

The news comes with figures showing police in the area are dealing with record levels of serious offences involving knives.

The figures may be slightly higher as NHS Digital rounds trust-level numbers to the nearest five and suppresses small numbers to avoid identifying individual patients. It is also not mandatory to record the cause in medical records so some numbers may go unreported.

Crime figures released on Thursday revealed there was a total 772 selected serious offences that involved a knife in the Leicestershire police force area in the year to June 2018.

These include offences such as murder, attempted murder, sexual assaults and robbery.

This was the highest number of knife crimes in a single year since published numbers began in 2011.

The data shows the number of serious selected offences involving knives in the police force area rose by 40% in a year from 552 crimes in the year to June 2017.

In Leicestershire, one in every 14 serious selected offences now involves a knife (7%).

As well as this, 7% of threats to kill, 6% of assaults with injury or intent to cause serious harm, 28% of robberies, and 0.3% of rapes and sexual assaults involved a knife in the year to June 2018.

Assaults with knives and other sharp objects put people in hospital 4,985 times across England in 2017/18.

This was the highest number of admissions in at least six years.

It was a rise from 4,351 admissions in 2016/17, and up from 3,849 in 2012/13.

Across England and Wales, there was a total 41,884 selected serious offences that involved a knife in the year to June 2018, the highest number of knife crimes in a single year.

One in every 18 serious selected offences now involves a knife (6%).