Assaults on hospital staff fall

The number of assaults on hospital workers in East Yorkshire has dropped for the fourth year running, the NHS has said.

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said there were 42 instances of violent assaults on staff this year, down from 63 last year.

The trust said this was largely down to the work of its security staff.

A spokesman for the trust called the figures "encouraging" but said: "One assault is one too many".

The trust said it had imposed sanctions, including fixed fines and anti-social behaviour orders, for 34 of the 42 offences.

Andy Thompson, head of security at the trust, said: "These figures are encouraging for our trust and our staff but as we always say one assault is one too many and we will be working even harder again next year to bring these numbers down again."

He said security staff tried to speak to trouble makers before violence broke out, as well as taking statements from people involved and passing them to Humberside Police later.