A survey of 1,000 nurses across the UK, carried out by the Nursing Times and the Royal College of Nursing, revealed that 72% did not feel safe from assaults at work, compared with 65% who said they felt safer from verbal and violent attacks away from hospital.

In response to the survey, the Department of Health said it was putting measures in place to prevent violence against nurses in the workplace.

More than 80% of nurses said they now face more physical and verbal aggression than when they began in the job.

And almost half of the nurses polled said they had considered leaving the profession because of the attacks.

Government says it is bringing in strategies to make wards safer

The results of the questionnaire were being made public on Monday's World In Action programme on ITV.

Auxiliary nurse Carol Harmon told how she was attacked by a drunken woman at Hope hospital in Salford, Manchester.

She said: "I had a bruised and dislocated jaw, she'd also perforated my ear drum and I had bruises on my body.

"I couldn't scream, I couldn't shout out, even though a colleague of mine was in the next room, because I was using all my effort to stop her hitting me.

"I felt very angry that she could actually come into my place of work and attack me because she'd had a drink."

Ms Harmon added: "I coped by thinking 'I'm not going to let her win' so I came back into work and just tried to carry on."

'Ongoing battle'

Steve Walker, an Accident and Emergency charge nurse in Salford, carried a hidden camera for World In Action to record the abuse hurled at him and his workmates.

He said that nurses have been punched, kicked, bitten, spat at and threatened with knives. He also said that he was hit in the face by a patient's relative.

"It seems to be an ongoing battle," he said.

"Years ago it used to be an infrequent problem. Now it seems to be certainly weekly and often daily, particularly at night when the staff are subjected to all kinds of violence, not just minor abuse ... now it seems to be increasingly physical as well."

Mr Walker added: "Most nurses, from those figures, obviously feel it's safer walking home at night or going about their general routine during the day away from work than they actually do being at work."

Cross-government action

The Department of Health said in a statement that ministers were "very concerned" about the levels of violence against staff working in the NHS.

"That is why they have set up a cross-government drive working with the Home Office, the Lord Chancellor's Department and the CPS to bring down levels of violence against all staff in the NHS.

"In addition to this, the Department of Health is putting strategies in place to make the NHS a better place to work, and to bring down levels of violence.

"There will be national performance targets to meet which will be monitored by the National Health Service Executive (NHSE)."