Northampton General Hospital has been praised in a national report looking at how health organisations can help reduce violent crime.
A Department of Health study revealed that a pledge by the Government urging hospitals to share violent crime data with police to help fight crime was only being carried out properly in a third of areas in England.
Northampton was highlighted as one of the areas where this information was being shared, along with Cardiff and Cambridge.
In 2010, the Government said hospitals should share non-confidential information with police to help cut crime. This involves telling police and local councils the time and place of assaults, the types of weapon used and the types of attack. The data is used to paint a picture of violence in an area so resources can be better deployed to tackle it.
Public health minister Anna Soubry called on hospitals to improve how they share data with police, saying there are no “logistical or legal” barriers and asking them to explain any “good reasons why it cannot be done”.
“We can cut the number of lives blighted by violent crime if the NHS works with the police as well as it can - which is why I have asked to see further improvements,” she wrote.
“Many victims of assault go to the A&E department for treatment but do not report the incident to the police. So it’s vital that hospitals work with the police by sharing anonymised information about the assault victims that they see.
“Many hospitals and police forces share information really well already and the results show this, but we want to make sure every area across the country puts this work into place.”
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