Assaults on staff at a West Midlands hospital trust have nearly QUADRUPLED in six years.

At Walsall Healthcare, 175 assaults were recorded in 2015/16, a 272% rise from 47 recorded in 2010/11, one of the biggest increases in England over the period.

This means the rate of assaults has risen from 15.4 per 1,000 workers to 34.7 per 1,000 over the period.

At the Dudley Group, the number of assaults has risen 110% from 63 in 2010/11 to 132 in 2015/16, with the rate jumping from 15.6 assaults per 1,000 staff members to 23.8 per 1,000.

However, the scale of violence may be even greater, as Freedom of Information requests by campaigning organisation 38 Degrees found a higher number of assaults recorded than reported in the official figures from NHS Protect.

At Walsall, the average number of assaults recorded a year between 2011/12 and 2015/16 was 29 but the FOI found an average of 42 per year.

NHS figures show there were 20,018 assaults on staff across England in 2015/16, a 49% rise from 13,436 in 2010/11, as the number of assaults has risen steadily over the six-year period.

However, an investigation released today (February 25 2017) by campaigning organisation 38 Degrees has revealed these reported numbers may be an underestimate of the true levels of violence faced by NHS workers.

38 Degrees is calling for attacks on NHS staff to be made a specific offence, in line with attacks on police officers, to act as a deterrent. MPs are set to debate the issue on Monday (February 27) in a parliamentary debate.

The campaigning organisation submitted Freedom of Information requests to NHS hospital trusts and found that in 26 of those trusts, attacks on NHS staff have doubled (or more) during a six year period from 2010/11 to 2015/2016.

The report also highlights the black hole in reporting on cases of assault on NHS staff. In 25 of the 42 trusts where comparable data exists between the FOI requests and official figures from 2011/12 to 2015/2016, it reveals under-reporting of assaults on NHS hospital staff.

It also found seven trusts where attacks on hospital staff have been under-reported every single year from 2011/12 to 2015/16.

NHS Protect, the government body set up to advise and support the NHS on staff safety, is currently running a staff consultation on the issue, which is due to end on March 1 and parliament will be debating the issue next Monday (February 27).

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NHS logo

Hertsmere Conservative MP, Oliver Dowden MP will lead the the Westminster Hall debate, which follows a petition on the parliament website that reached nearly 117,000 signatures.

Laura Townshend, Director at 38 Degrees, said: “This investigation exposes the urgent need to make sure British law protects NHS staff just as much as they care for us. Making assaults against NHS staff a specific offence would act as a deterrent and could help halt this shocking rise in attacks.

“Being a doctor, nurse or midwife in today’s NHS is hard enough as it is: it’s time MPs stood up for the staff that keep our health service going.”

Anonymous NHS employee and 38 Degrees member from Hampshire, said: “I regularly feel under threat...the threats are often physical, psychological and verbal. When you are targeted it threatens your own sense of wellbeing. The physical and psychological threats are the worst, they really leave you shaken and scared for your safety. You often have to force yourself to go into work and go back on the wards, this is not how it should be. I got in the job to help people with their recovery but over the years the types of cases we see has changed - a lot.”

Anonymous NHS employee and 38 Degrees member from Kent, said: “I have in the past sustained cracked ribs from being punched, as well as other times being scratched, kicked and punched. And have recently been made to feel uncomfortable by being touched inappropriately by a patient.”

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Anonymous NHS employee and 38 Degrees member from County Durham, said: “I am an A&E nurse, I have a challenging job faced with stressful, difficult and sensitive issues. I can deal with this. What I can't deal with is being spat at, swore out...I dodge kicks, objects thrown at me, threatened with acts of violence outside of work, I report these incidents however they continue. There is no real protection or support.”

Anonymous NHS employee and 38 Degrees member from East Worthing and Shoreham, said: “Multiple attacks and assaults. Have dreaded going into work for fear of assault. Following a major assault I suffered PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and tried to quit nursing.”