ABUSE suffered by staff working within the accident and emergency department at the Alexandra Hospital is at an all time high.

A&E consultant Richard Morrell said there had been a large increase in verbal abuse and there had been two physical assaults in the last month.

But Mr Morrell said the verbal attacks, which were often alcohol-fuelled, were actually harder for staff to deal with than the physical assaults.

Mr Morrell said police, who have a station at the Woodrow Drive hospital, would be called to a physical assault. But he added they were not always contacted for a verbal attack on members of staff.

Mr Morrell said he wanted to highlight the problem to people and asked patients visiting the hospital to think before they spoke.