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Top surgeon named as first 'violence reduction chief' to help tackle stabbings and shootings in London

A top surgeon has been appointed the NHS’s first clinical director for violence reduction in a bid to tackle London’s epidemic of stabbings and shootings.

Martin Griffiths, a consultant trauma surgeon at the Royal London hospital, has spent a decade going into schools to warn pupils of the dangers of knife crime after the fatal stabbing of a family member.

At the Royal London in Whitechapel, one of the capital’s four major trauma centres, he and colleagues perform life-saving operations, some on victims arriving in their school uniforms.

Today’s announcement is part of a wider “public health” approach to tackling violence in London by identifying the root causes of crime and intervening early to prevent its spread. Mr Griffiths said: “Every day I see the wasted opportunities of young people stuck on hospital wards with life-changing injuries.

“We do everything we can for these patients but don’t just want to patch them up and send them back out to be injured again. By working across the NHS there is more we can do to prevent these attacks happening in the first place.

“I want to build a network that will empower communities across London to challenge the attitudes and behaviours that result in violence.”

He will work part-time to enable him to remain on the NHS frontline.

Almost 5,000 people were admitted to the Royal London in 2018/19 after being attacked with a knife or sharp object, up almost a third on 2012/13. Teenagers accounted for 1,012 admissions last year, compared with 656 six years ago.

The Royal London has pioneered a scheme, involving emergency department staff and the St Giles Trust charity, to intervene while young victims are in hospital.

In the past six years, the number returning with further injuries has fallen from 45 per cent to less than one per cent.

Last year Mr Griffiths challenged Donald Trump when the US president said the Royal London was like a “war zone” with “blood all over the floors” due to the number of knife victims.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens praised Mr Griffiths for his “inspiring work”.

He added: “If this initiative works we would like to see it rolled out in all regions.”