A case of female genital mutilation (FGM) is either discovered or treated at a medical appointment in England every hour, a charity has said.
Plan International UK said statistics showed there were 8,656 times when a girl or woman was assessed at a doctor’s surgery or hospital.
Charity boss Tanya Barron said: “These figures are once again a reminder of the global prevalence of FGM.”
An estimated 200 million women and girls worldwide are affected.
The NHS figures analysed were between April 2015 and March 2016. They show a patient was assessed on average every 61 minutes. Among those who attended, a case of FGM is newly recorded every 92 minutes on average.
