Trust staff ‘stand by’ the family of knife crime victim

Trust staff at Whiston Hospital took a stand against knife crime by joining the #NoMoreKnives campaign.

Alongside the family of Adam Ellison, the 29-year-old fatally stabbed in Prescot town centre last November, staff from across the hospital stood outside the Emergency Department and sang the campaign's anthem ‘Stand by Me’. The song has been adopted by the campaign as a show of strength from the people of Merseyside to say that carrying a knife is not acceptable.

Whiston Hospital is the second highest receiving emergency department of knife injuries in Merseyside. In 2017/18, 83 people were admitted with knife injuries, up from 65 in 2012/13, an increase of 28% in the last five years.

Graeme Inkster, emergency department consultant, said: “The smallest knife wound can prove fatal anywhere in the body. It could be the leg, buttock, stomach or heart, I have seen people with the smallest of entry wounds suffer catastrophic internal injuries. 

“We are proud to stand next to Adam’s family and say “no more”. 

“Our staff see first-hand the devastating consequences of knife-crime, the hardest part of our job is telling a family that there is nothing more we can do to save their loved one and an innocent life has been lost. It is heart-breaking for the victim’s family and for all those involved”.

Adam’s Mum Joyce, said: “Our world fell apart when Adam was brutally attacked and killed. We are proud to stand here in Adam’s name to say this has to stop. No more families should have to lose a loved one and the staff here at the hospital should not have to deal with the horrific injuries. 

“We would like to thank the staff at Whiston Hospital for their support and I hope that by standing together we can help spread the message of No More Knives”.

For more information about the campaign, search #NoMoreKnives.