Leeds medics' despair at toll of 'almost medieval' knife injuries

Staff at Leeds General Infirmary's major trauma centre say they are treating teenagers with knife injuries several times a week

An A&E doctor says the rising number of young people injured in stabbings in West Yorkshire has left hospital staff asking, "when is it going to stop?".

Dr Alice Downes said Leeds' major trauma unit was treating 16 to 19-year-olds for knife wounds several times a week, and under-16s about once a month.

One colleague said some of the injuries he had witnessed were "almost medieval in terms of how horrific they are".

Dr Downes spoke as a 17-year-old was convicted of killing Khayri Mclean, 15.

Khayri was murdered by the teenager and another 15-year-old in a knife attack as he walked home from school in Huddersfield.

He was taken to the unit at Leeds General Infirmary, but despite the efforts of doctors died as a result of his injuries.

His death in September 2022 was followed by the fatal stabbings of 17-year-old Harley Brown, in Huddersfield, in February, and Trust Junior Jordan Gangata, also 17, who was stabbed a house party in Leeds earlier this month.

Elsewhere footage of masked males fighting with machetes outside a takeaway in Leeds resulted in two boys, aged 15 and 16, being arrested on suspicion of affray.

Dr Alice Downes says treating young patients with knife injuries is traumatic for both families and staff

Dr Downes, a consultant in paediatric emergency medicine, said: "We're seeing young men who have been attacked by machetes, they might have had, for example, their arm cut off, a machete attack to their head.

"It's horrible to think these injuries have been deliberately inflicted on one human to another human.

"We have the thought in our minds - 'when's it going to stop?'.

"We do know that if one person comes in from a violent crime somewhere out in the community there might be someone else doing a revenge attack."

In an effort to combat the problem Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust operates an "A&E Navigator Programme".

The scheme, funded by the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, works with children as young as 11 involved in serious violent incidents by referring them to youth workers within the hospital.

Since the scheme started in early 2021 it has handled 808 referrals, more than half of which were for children aged 15 to 17, and one in five were for victims of knife crime.

Matthew Guest, a youth worker involved in steering young people away from crime, describes some of the injuries as 'medieval'

Matthew Guest, lead Accident & Emergency navigator, says about half of knife crime injuries they see are caused by machetes, with blades often "one or two-feet long".

"Some of the injuries you see are almost medieval in terms of how horrific it is," he says.

"When you see a 17 or 18-year-old on the street they look like a grown man, but when you see them in a hospital bed with a big injury they're stripped right back to childhood and it's not a very pleasant thing to see."