Youth workers in West Midlands A&E units to fight crime

Two of the youth workers will be based at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire

Youth workers will be placed in two hospital accident and emergency departments to help fight violent crime.

The four specialists will work alongside medics in the West Midlands to identify young victims and perpetrators of serious violence.

The £285,000 project has been funded by the region's police and crime commissioner David Jamieson.

He said they will be "invaluable in the fight against violent crime".

The youth workers will be based at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire and New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, for an initial one-year period.

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Mr Jamieson said the youth workers will be "invaluable in the fight against violent crime"

The project is being delivered by the St Giles Trust, which has recruited two peer workers for each hospital to work with individuals aged 25 and under.

Peer workers are already in place at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth and Heartlands hospitals via the charity Redthread.

'Teachable moment'

Steve Clarke, from the trust, said the service would reach those involved with violence in their hour of need.

"Our youth workers will be on hand to offer tailored support to lead them away from the violence that caused them to end up in hospital," he said.

Mr Jamieson added: "Experts describe the moment when a person has been seriously injured and is lying in a hospital bed as as a 'teachable moment' and a time when that person is more likely to be open to help and support."

Knife crime in the region has risen 85% since 2012 with the surge in violent crime described as a 'national emergency' by Mr Jamieson.