Doctors should report knife injuries to the police despite the general obligation to keep patients’ information confidential, says new guidance from the General Medical Council.

Currently doctors are required to report gunshot wounds to police, but the revised guidance, which comes into force on 12 October, requires them for the first time also to report attacks with a knife, blade, or sharp instrument, whether the patient is an adult or a child.

Doctors should report incidents quickly but should not disclose the patient’s identity with the initial report, the guidance says. They must ask patients whether …