DOCTORS are to hand details of stabbings to police to help in the crackdown against knife crime. Homerton University Hospital staff will pass information about serious assaults to police officers during the two-month trial...

DOCTORS are to hand details of stabbings to police to help in the crackdown against knife crime.

Homerton University Hospital staff will pass information about serious assaults to police officers during the two-month trial.

The number and location of attacks will be used to build a picture of the borough's crime hotspots.

Police also hope the information will shed light on the gangs who fight over postcode territory.

Hospital staff insist the information passed on will not compromise patient confidentiality.

"The project is not about the police fishing for information to try and solve individual cases," said Dr Laurence Gant, the senior clinician at the Homerton's accident and emergency ward.

"They are interested in stopping the crime from happening in the first place.

"It's important the project does not compromise people's freedom to use the A&E department.

The trial is part of Operation Blunt, the Met Police's crackdown on knife crime in the capital.

If successful, it will be extended across London.

Dr Gant added: "We collect data about where people were assaulted, how many people and the rough ages of who attacked them.

"We store the data electronically and send it off to the Met without compromising confidentiality.

"The police can then target their policing rather than focus on areas where violent crime does not happen.