VIOLENT attacks on the region's ambulance workers have more than doubled in the past year.

Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Trust bosses have dealt with up to 12 incidents a month, compared with between three and five the previous year.

Staff have reported being punched, bitten and spat on at work.

There were 98 incidents of violence and aggression towards staff from April last year to this January.

The revelation follows the publication of A Safer Place to Work, a report on violence against hospital and ambulance staff, by the National Audit Office.

The report found there was a national increase in violent and aggressive incidents of 13 per cent in 2001-2002.

Aggression

Andy Kibble, a Unison representative for the trust's ambulance workers, said paramedics and other frontline workers were confronted by violence and aggression almost on a daily basis.

"The job's hard enough without the abuse and violence," he said. "We're under threat more now than we've ever been."

The trust supported staff with its zero tolerance policy on violence.

Fellow Unison representative Peter Green said the worst incidents happened in towns and cities during weekend evenings.

But he said there was still some reluctance to report attacks.

The union was also talking to the trust about introducing knife-proof vests for frontline staff.

"I don't think there's been a stabbing assault in our trust, but you can't put a price on life."

Steve McGuinness, the trust's director of operations, said the number of reported incidents had risen because the trust had successfully prosecuted offenders, which gave staff more confidence.

"Now they know the trust's fully committed to them, they feel happier reporting incidents."

But he felt some staff still accepted being sworn at and threatened.

"We've got to do more to encourage staff to report them," said Mr McGuinness.

All front-line staff were given training in self-defence, and were taught how to deal with potentially dangerous situations.

Concern at violence

A NURSING boss has demanded an explanation from Worcestershire's health chiefs following a rise in complaints from nurses about violence.

Maureen Spinetto, Worcester's Royal College of Nursing representative, wants reassurances the acute trust's zero tolerance anti-violence policy is being implemented.

She has written to the trust's director of nursing, Cathryn Plain, to express her concern about the increased level of violence she has become aware of at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Ms Spinetto would not discuss individual cases, but said she had cause for concern.

"The incidents I'm aware of make me think they can't be implementing the policy properly," she said.

"Nurses are being subjected to violent or potentially violent situations."

She said the acute trust had a good policy in place, but there was some evidence that it was not being implemented.

"They are not supporting staff enough and they need to send out clearer messages to staff," said Ms Spinetto.

"At the end of the day, the buck stops with the trust in terms of providing a healthy and safe environment for them to work in."

She said staff complained of feeling exposed, and believed the worst problem was at Worcestershire Royal's A&E department.

"When everyone is under a lot of pressure, people can become frustrated."

The National Audit Office has published a report on violence towards NHS hospital and ambulance staff.

A Safer Place to Work reported a 13 per cent increase in the number of reported incidents of violence or aggression from 2000-2001 to 2001-2002.

It found only a fifth of NHS trusts met the target of reducing incidents by 20 per cent between October 1999 and 2001.

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said there were 12 physical and 13 verbal cases of abuse against staff in the trust's A&E and Minor Injuries departments from April 2002 to March this year.

But she would not reveal the figures for the previous year.

Jeff Crawshaw, director of human resources, said the safety of the trust's staff was paramount.

"We fully support our staff when they are subjected to physical and verbal abuse and cases of physical abuse are always reported to the police for further action," he said.