At least one hospital worker a day in Sussex faces physical attacks or verbal assaults from patients and relatives while at work.

Frontline staff have reported hundreds of incidents when they have been physically attacked or verbally assaulted by patients or relatives almost every day of the year.

This can range from kicks and punches leaving staff with cuts and bruises to people shouting and swearing down the phone or making threats.

Some incidents involve patients with mental health problems or those coming round from an operation who may be confused and unaware of what they are doing.

However others include patients who have been drinking who become aggressive and difficult to deal with.

Alcohol-related incidents are more common in busy accident and emergency units, particularly in the evenings or at weekends.

Unions say the attacks and abuse are not acceptable and hospitals need to do more to ensure staff are protected.

They say the actual number of cases is probably higher because not every incident is reported.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust said staff reported 159 physical assaults and 228 cases verbal abuse between April 2012 and the end of March.

The figures showa slight fall on the year before but bosses say any incident is one too many and all cases are taken seriously.

Verbal abuse

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Worthing Hospital and St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, reported 131 cases of physical assault and 70 of verbal abuse.

Figures for East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages Eastbourne District General Hospital and The Conquest in St Leonards, showthere had been 117 incidents involving either physical attack or verbal abuse.

A spokesman for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust,which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and PrincessRoyal hospital inHawards Heath, said: “We have a number of measures to help deal with any incidents of assault on staff.

“We have a dedicated security team available on both hospital sites 24/7 who provide support to our clinical staff in managing difficult situations.

“We have issued monitored alarm systems to staff in some wards.”

A spokesman for East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust said: “Violence against our staff is completely unacceptable.

“No staff member should go to work thinking violence or abuse is part of their everyday life.”

Brighton GMB organiser Gary Palmer said: “It’s hard to understand why people would attack a nurse or another professional health worker, who is simply there to assist them through with health issues or emergencies. If that situation is likely to arise then it is the trust’s responsibility to provide a safe working environment for its staff and our members.”