10 a week in A&E for knife wounds

Up to 10 people are admitted to London hospitals for knife wounds every week, it was revealed today.

The figures come amid fears over knife crime in the capital and after the deaths of two teenagers from stabs wounds last week.

Stab wound admissions have remained steady since 2003 when there were 544 admissions, despite government knife amnesties and a wider use of stop and search.

In 2006/07 there were 495 admissions across London hospitals, including accidents, down from 573 the year before.

Nationally there were 5,240 emergency hospital admissions as a result of "assault by a sharp object" in 2005/06, and this figure has increased yearly since 1998/99, except for a dip in 2002/03.

The primary care trusts with the highest admissions were Wandsworth, Lambeth and Newham, where Adam Regis, 15, Rizwan Darbar, 17, and Mohammed Ahmed, 17, were all killed last year.

Seventeen teenagers died from stab wounds in the capital last year.

Shadow health minister Mike Penning MP said: "Sadly our A&E departments are becoming world leaders in stab wounds.

"I've spent a lot of time talking to surgeons and they all talk about the horrific number of young people coming in with stab wounds.

But the Home Office said it was working hard to stem the problem of knife crime including providing the police with 100 portable knife arches and 400 search wands.