Abuse hurled at hospital nurses and doctors is on the increase.

Staff at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust reported 1,020 cases of verbal attacks and intimidating behaviour in the past year. It is an increase on the year before, when 949 incidents were reported.

The number of physical assaults dropped from 183 to 168.

The annual report of the trust's security team, which is being presented to the board today, covers the period between April 2004 and March 2005.

It reveals more than half of the incidents happened at the Royal Sussex County Hospital's accident and emergency (A&E) department.

They included 18 assaults and 513 cases of antisocial behaviour, including disorderly conduct, being drunk and disorderly, threatening behaviour and seven cases involving threats with a weapon.

As well as the Royal Sussex, the trust's other Brighton hospitals are the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children and the Sussex Eye Hospital. In Haywards Heath it runs the Princess Royal Hospital and Hurstwood Park Neurosciences Centre.

Security officers were called to 350 incidents within A&E and 859 trust wide.

Drunkenness, drug abuse and mental health problems were the main contributory factors.

The trust has 18 security officers in Brighton and eight at the Princess Royal but security staff believe more are needed.

Government rules say that by 2008 all frontline staff, including nurses and doctors, must have had a day's basic training to help them diffuse potentially violent incidents.

At the trust, two per cent of staff have had it so far.

Human resources director Charles Allen said: "There is an issue with releasing staff so they can do the course.

"We are working to improve that so as many can get the training as possible.

"In an ideal world we would have no incidents at all but we are pleased to see there has been a slight reduction in assaults.

"We will continue to concentrate on that and on verbal abuse and threatening behaviour so we can bring the numbers down.

"Our staff have a stressful enough job without this type of pressure being added to it and they do not deserve it."

The reasons for numbers going up have been put down to various factors, including more staff reporting cases, patients and visitors wanting a better level of service and some elements of society becoming more aggressive in general.

Improvements in the past year have included the introduction of more CCTV systems at the hospitals.

The trust has a zero-tolerance policy on violence against staff and has posters and signs around its buildings advertising this.