Help fund more defibrillators and bleed kits in Solihull

Sadly, up and down the country young lives are being lost due to knife crime, leaving families shattered. From my time working as a surgeon in Major Trauma Unit in Birmingham, I know this is an all too familiar sight, and I am acutely aware of the devastation that knife crime inflicts on communities such as ours.

In recent days and weeks, painfully, we have seen episodes of knife crime in our own community and in the nearby surrounds. This results in understandable concerns in local neighbourhoods and my thoughts are with all those affected by these unnecessary and destructive acts of violence.

On too many occasions during my medical career, I treated young people who had been the victim of stabbings and other violent crimes. Like the youth, stabbed in the heart, who only survived because of the incredible teamwork of my NHS colleagues; giving a young person a second chance at life as they walked out of the hospital. However, there were times when there were no second chances. Young people who had their whole lives ahead of them, stopped in their tracks. Parents and siblings left devastated. Communities fractured. I will be using my time in Parliament to campaign against the scourge of knife related crime.

In May, I will be walking the “Solihull Way”, a walk spanning approximately 20 miles of the constituency. This fundraiser will enable lifesaving equipment, such a defibrillators and bleed kits to be purchased; preventing deserts of these devices across Solihull West & Shirley.