This April, our dedicated team at the Royal London Hospital marks a decade of life-changing work supporting young people admitted with violence-related injuries.
Launched in 2015 in partnership with Barts NHS Trust, the hospital-based violence reduction service intervenes at a critical moment—when young people are safe in hospital and open to change. With lived experience of the challenges these young people face, our caseworkers provide tailored support to help them stay safe and move forward with their lives.
Working closely with hospital staff, the team offers support both on the ward and after discharge. A five-year study showed the programme reduced re-admission rates to just 7%, compared to the national average of 30–35%—proving its powerful role in breaking the cycle of violence.
In 2024 alone, the team supported 154 young people, delivering over 35 hours of one-to-one support each week. They also trained 641 hospital staff in trauma-informed care and peer-on-peer violence, building a more understanding and responsive clinical environment.
It has been a privilege to be a part of something so special and meaningful, to watch our Trauma Service grow and develop over the last 10 Years has been amazing. To know the real, raw impact this service has had on the many individuals we have supported over the last 10 Years is beyond words. My thanks does not seem enough to those that have been on this journey with me over the last 10 years but I will say a special thanks to Samir for taking over from me and continuing and maintaining the standards set, when we launched in 2015 and also for elevating this service into the next chapter.
– Roisin Keville, NHS Partnerships Services Manager
From a team of just two, the Royal London unit has grown to five specialist caseworkers. Their success has inspired similar teams at four more London hospitals, as well as sites hospitals in the West Midlands and Bedfordshire. They have won several high-profile awards for their work and were recently profiled in a BBC documentary on knife crime presented by Idris Elba.
