Attacks on health workers soar

Public services union UNISON has called for a Scottish working party to plan strategies to cope with violence in hospitals. This follows the publication of new figures showing a 3,600% rise in assaults on hospital workers in Grampian University NHS Trust over the past 10 years.

The figures show that reported assaults in the trust rocketed from 20 in 1990 to 720 in 1999, with 485 staff being attacked in the casualty department last year. Other figures, for Southern General hospital in South Glasgow trust, show that 1,519 staff have suffered violent abuse over the last four years.