Role for health staff in knife crime battle

Optical professionals working within the NHS could soon be legally bound to report signs of youth violence under new plans announced by the government.

At a knife crime summit earlier this week, home secretary Sajid Javid launched the two-month long consultation to assess whether there was a ‘public health duty’ to report concerns over young people at risk.

Although there was no specific mention of opticians or optometrists in the consultation’s launch documents, the roles have been included within multi-agency public health initiatives in the past, including counter terror and female genital mutilation reporting.