A Pioneering Approach to Adolescent Emergency Services
Lambeth and Southwark are two of the top London
boroughs for the incidence of teenage knife crime. Thanks to a
grant of £348,500 from the Charity, a pioneering project at St
Thomas' Hospital is taking an innovative approach to helping
vulnerable adolescents and reducing violence amongst 12-18 year
olds.
The Charity Oasis launched the three-year project in 2010 with
one full-time youth worker in residence at St Thomas' Hospital,
supported by two part-time students. Based in A&E, the youth
workers target adolescents who regularly attend the department
having been assaulted or involved in violence. Young people
considered at high risk of further violence due to repeated visits
to A&E are offered follow up support, advice, and counselling,
such as anger management.
In addition, they are introduced to services such as Connexions,
which offers 13-19 year olds advice on education, careers, housing,
money, health and relationships. Oasis also works closely with Dulwich Picture
Gallery as part of its Urban Youth programme, which introduces
hard-to-reach young people to creative opportunities.
Having a youth worker on site also supports A&E staff who
often report that dealing with difficult and troubled adolescents
is one of the most stressful and time consuming aspects of their
job.
The initiative reflects the Charity's belief in combining
energy, knowledge, ideas and resources by bringing together
community, voluntary sector and acute services to tackle a
particular health issue.
"This is about helping individuals through a holistic approach
with the hope that we will have a positive effect in reducing the
escalating rates of knife crime," says Dr John Criddle, consultant
in paediatric emergency medicine and project lead. "This would also
have a positive effect on the NHS overall in terms of reducing the
resources required to deal with this type of repeat crime."
Kingston University is evaluating the effectiveness of the
project in reducing the chances of young people presenting as
victims of violence. "There is already anecdotal evidence, which we
hope to confirm, of positive changes in the young people's
activities, social skills and personal development as a direct
result of the project," Kingston University research associate Yael
Ilan-Clarke said.