Ambulance service launches campaign to tackle knife crime across Hampshire and Thames Valley
The ambulance service has launched a campaign to tackle the impact of knife crime across the area with paramedics being called to multiple stabbings every month.
The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) has launched the month-long campaign which aims to reduce the number of knife crimes, highlight the impact it has, and raise awareness of what emergency first aid members of the public should provide to victims of knife crime whilst emergency services are on their way.
According to data supplied by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) there were over 50,000 reported knife crimes between September 2023 and September 2024 across England and Wales. Additionally, the Home Office reported over 2,500 deaths as a result of knife crime throughout 2023.
Knife crimes have increased by 80 per cent over the last 10 years, and knife related homicides have increased by 23per cent in the same period although statistics for Hampshire has shown the number of reported knife crimes is reducing in the county. The Home Office has argued that there is a risk of knife crime becoming normalised with more and more young people carrying knives, often in the misguided belief that this gives them more protection.
SCAS, which covers Hampshire and Thames Valley, has said it attends multiple serious stabbing incidents every month with ONS figures showing more than 2,160 stabbings between September 2023-September 2024 within its area.
It said the highest levels of incidence within our area are in Oxfordshire and south east Hampshire, including Portsmouth, but there have been serious incidents reported across the whole region.
Mark Ainsworth-Smith MBE is a consultant pre-hospital care practitioner for SCAS and said “Tragically we see a significant number of deaths caused by knife crime and violence in our ambulance service every year. Every one of those deaths is a tragedy for families and friends, and they cause terrible trauma to all those involved, including the police, ambulance service and other emergency responders who have to deal with the consequences.”
Included in its campaign will be the release of a short film of a meeting between Amanda Stephens, the mother of a teenager who was fatally stabbed in Reading, and Kirsten Willis-Drewett, who was the SCAS operational commander on scene that day. This was the first time Amanda and Kirsten had met since the incident.
It will also be releasing a video providing emergency first aid advice for the public to help them know what to do in the event of a stabbing before the ambulance arrives.
As previously reported by The News there is growing concern within the community about the impact of knife crime with a number of incidents and court cases in recent months.
There was also a stabbing in December 2024 in Buckland during a mass brawl, a stabbing outside Havant Railway Station in November 2024, last month a 16-year-old was also stabbed in Commercial Road and last week a man was stabbed in North End.
There was also the death in 2023 of innocent bystander Aimen Ahmed who was stabbed on steps of Portsmouth Guildhall and Levi Kent who was stabbed in Gosport following an altercation related to a drug deal.