Memorandum submitted by Trauma Audit and
Research Network
1. BACKGROUND
evidence was presented to the Home Affairs Committee
at its Leeds seminar on 26 January 2009. The presentation was
made in the light of:
— Reported knife crime falling until
recently (Home Office).
— Some hospitals (eg Royal London)
report an increase in attendances.
— High profile media reports.
2. BRITISH CRIME
SURVEY DATA
KNIFE AND SHARP INSTRUMENT OFFENCES, QUARTERLY
COMPARISON AND PROPORTIONS OF ALL OFFENCES, BY OFFENCE TYPE: ENGLAND
AND WALES
Offence type
| April to June
2007 | April to June
2008
| % change | % of total offences
(April to June 2008)
|
Homicide1 | .. |
.. | .. | .. |
| Attempted Murder | 50 | 64
| +28 | 41 |
| GBH with intent2 | 1,253 |
1,616 | +29 | 33
|
| GBH without intent3 | 662 |
455 | -31 | 10 |
| Robbery | 3,422 | 3,278
| -4 | 17 |
| Sub-Total: Serious Violent Offences |
5,387 | 5,413 |
0 | 19 |
| | |
| |
| Threats to Kill | .. | 287
| .. | 15 |
| Actual Bodily Harm | .. |
2,820 | .. | 3 |
| Rape | .. | 63
| .. | 2 |
| Sexual Assaults | .. | 27
| .. | 0 |
| Total: Violent & Sexual Offences4
| .. | 8,610 |
.. | 6 |
1 Knife homicides excluded from totals at present, due to incomplete data, but it is planned that quarterly figures will be available in future.
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| 2 Increase partly due to clarification in counting rules.
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| 3 The percentage change for GBH without intent is to some extent influenced by a narrowing of offence definitions to exclude some wounding offences that do not constitute GBH.
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| 4 Full offence collection not available before April 2008.
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3. OFFICE FOR
NATIONAL STATISTICS
DATA: ENGLAND
AND WALES
FATALITIES 1995-2007
4. TRAUMA AUDIT
AND RESEARCH
NETWORK (TARN): SERIOUS
INJURY AND
HOSPITAL DEATHS
— The Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) collects
data on patients who are admitted to hospital as a result of serious
injury from its member hospitals (about half of all trauma-receiving
hospitals in England and Wales).
— TARN benchmarks quality of trauma care on most
seriously injured.
— Data includes only patients who reach hospital
alive and either:
— Need to stay in hospital for more than three days.
KNIFE AND OTHER INJURIES; VICTIM DEMOGRAPHICS, SEVERITY
AND OUTCOME, 1994-2008 (TARN)
| |
| | Urban/rural |
| | | |
|
| | |
| Rural |
| Urban |
| | |
| MOI |
| MOI |
|
| | |
| Other MOI | Knife injury
| Total | Other MOI
| Knife injury | Total
|
| Total number of cases | |
| | | 29,628
| 178 | 29,806 | 131,068
| 1,711 |
| 132,779 | | |
| | |
| | | |
| Median Age | |
| | | 47 |
30 | 47 | 41 | 27
|
| 41 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| 25th percentile | |
| | | 27 |
22 | 27 | 23 | 21
|
| 23 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| 75th percentile | |
| | | 66 |
38 | 66 | 62 | 36
|
| 61 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| Median ISS | |
| | | 9 | 9
| 9 | 9 | 10 |
| 9 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| 25th percentile | |
| | | 9 | 9
| 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 9 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| 75th percentile | |
| | | 10 |
15 | 10 | 13 | 16
|
| 13 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| Median GCS | |
| | | 15 |
15 | 15 | 15 | 15
|
| 15 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| 25th percentile | |
| | | 15 |
15 | 15 | 15 | 15
|
| 15 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| 75th percentile | |
| | | 15 |
15 | 15 | 15 | 15
|
| 15 | | |
| | | |
| | |
| Male | | |
| | 57.7% | 84.3%
| 57.9% | 61.9% | 91.5%
|
| 62.2% | | |
| | |
| | | |
| Female | | |
| | 42.3% | 15.7%
| 42.1% | 38.1% | 8.5%
|
| 37.8% | | |
| | |
| | | |
| | |
| 25,246 | 149 | 25,395
| 111,380 | 1,461 | 112,841
|
| | Alive |
| 95.1% | 90.3% |
95.1% | 93.7% | 91.8%
| 93.7% |
| | |
| 1,305 | 16 | 1,321
| 7,503 | 131 | 7,634
|
| Known final outcome | | Dead
| | 4.9% | 9.7%
| 4.9% | 6.3% | 8.2%
| 6.3% |
| | |
| 26,551 | 165 | 26,716
| 118,883 | 1,592 | 120,475
|
| | Total |
| 100.0% | 100.0%
| 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0%
| 100.0% |
| |
| | | |
| | | |
SERIOUS INJURIES PRESENTING TO TARN HOSPITALS IN ENGLAND
AND WALES 1994-2008—PROPORTION CAUSED BY KNIFE CRIME
SERIOUS INJURIES PRESENTING TO TARN HOSPITALS IN ENGLAND
AND WALES 1994-2008—PROPORTION OF ALL SERIOUS INJURIES DUE
TO KNIFE CRIME; URBAN VERSUS RURAL HOSPITALS
5. GREATER MANCHESTER
PENETRATING INJURY
SURVEY
| Penetrating Injury Audit |
July to December 2008
|
Stabbing Assaults Demographics
|
| Gender | Frequency
| Percentage |
| Male | 154 | 89.5
|
| Female | 18 | 10.5
|
| Total | 172 | 100
|
| |
|
| Penetrating Injury Audit
|
July to December 2008
|
Stabbing Assaults weapons used
|
| Weapon | Total
| Percentage |
| Kitchen knife | 59 |
34 |
| Unidentified knives | 37 |
21.5 |
| Other | 11 | 6.5
|
| Flick knife | 5 | 3
|
| Glass | 11 | 6.5
|
| Pen knife | 2 | 1.2
|
| Unidentified weapon | 47 |
27.3 |
| 172 | 100
|
| Median age = 27.8 |
| |
|
6. COLLEGE OF
EMERGENCY MEDICINE
SURVEY 15-22 DECEMBER
2008
Interim results from 17 Emergency Departments in England
and Wales (11 urban) showed:
— 6 (<20%) required formal surgery;
— 8 (24%) admitted to hospital;
— less than 3% of total injury hospital admissions.
7. SUMMARY OF
DATA
— No rise in fatalities per year 2002-07.
— Rise in serious injuries as proportion of all
injury and rise in numbers started in 2003 (1-3%).
— Speed of rise increasing for non-fatal serious
injury.
— Appears to be an urban (London, Leeds, Manchester)
phenomenon only.
— At local level only a quarter-one third of "stabbing"
assaults presenting to A&E require hospital admission 16%
are serious.
— Knives are the most commonly used weapon for stabbing
assault.
8. CONCLUSIONS ABOUT
KNIFE CRIME
— An increasing and serious problem.
— Affecting young male victims in urban areas.
— Most injuries presenting to Emergency Departments
are minor.
— Small proportion of injury burden as a whole.
— Affects "health" of whole community.
9. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
College of Emergency Medicine: Ruth Brown, Don Mackechnie, all
submitting hospitals.
Trauma and Audit Research Network: Maralyn Woodford, Lourens Bester,
Omar Bouamra, Tom Jenks, Colin Dibble, Antoinette Edwards, Rachel
Sloan, Hospital data co-ordinators.
Office of National Statistics: Claudia Wells.
February 2009
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