Would you stay in a job if colleagues were assaulted three times a week? Huddersfield and Halifax hospital staff do

Health bosses have been urged to take action to reduce the number of violent incidents in their hospitals.

Almost 400 violent incidents took place at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax, last year.

Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust (CHFT) recorded 387 violent incidents in 2014/15, down from 404 during the previous year.

Of the 387 incidents, 143 involved physical violence – equal to three assaults per week.

The remainder involved aggressive, threatening and disruptive behaviour.

Trust officials recorded four racially aggravated incidents – down from six in 2013/14 – but zero sexual assaults, compared to two the previous year.

The trust, which was rated ‘amber’ (satisfactory) for its security procedures, said there had been a ‘significant reduction’ on previous years.

But CHFT panel member Peter Middleton urged his fellow directors to take a tougher stance.

Mr Middleton said: “There are three incidents a week of physical abuse and five a week of verbal abuse. It is not acceptable.

“It’s a credit to the staff who put up with that.

“I’ve been in A&E with two police officers supervising so it’s no minor thing.”

Trust security director, Julie Dawes, noted that a large proportion of the incidents had been caused by patients suffering disorientating conditions, such as dementia.

But she admitted the number of incidents was ‘still too high’.

Ms Dawes said: “Sometimes it’s not intentional. It can be people with cognitive impairment.”

But she admitted: “It’s not all like that.”

Ms Dawes added: “We always encourage our staff to report all types of incidents and many of these involve patients who are confused and aggressive due to their conditions.

“We would always ask members of the public to support our staff when they are caring for them. The numbers are going down but they are still too high.”

CHFT said a ‘particularly problematic’ patient had been jailed twice for breaching an antisocial behaviour order banning the person from both hospitals’ A&E departments.

The trust added it had written two letter to patients about their unacceptable behaviour on hospital premises.