MORE than 250 staff across north Hampshire’s hospitals were assaulted in the line of duty last year, new statistics have revealed.

The figures, released by NHS Protect, show that 266 assaults were reported by staff working for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust between 2015/16.

The trust, which runs hospitals in Andover, Basingstoke and Winchester, has more than 7,200 employees, meaning one in every 27 staff members were assaulted last year. However of those 266 recorded assaults, all were deemed as involving ‘medical factors’.

This means that the patient did not know what they were doing or were unaware that what they were doing was wrong, due to mental illness or disability.

The most recent figure represents a 34 per cent increase compared to 2014/15, when 175 assaults were recorded. Of those assaults, two were described as ‘non-medical’ incidents, while not a single ‘non-medical’ assault was made between 2015-16.

One person to comment on the figures was outgoing HHFT chief executive Mary Edwards. The health boss, who leaves the trust this month, said: “We offer all staff the opportunity to take part in conflict resolution training to prevent situations reaching the stage where an assault takes place.

“We also have a highly trained security team available around the clock. We do not tolerate any form of violence towards our staff.”

While all assaults in Hampshire’s hospitals were said to involve ‘medical factors’, the opposite can be said for paramedics in the region.

One hundred and twenty nine staff members from South Central Ambulance Trust were assaulted in 2015/16, of which 94 did not involve medical factors. Of those assaults in 2015-16, 19 led to criminal sanctions, while 65 led to civil actions.

A spokesman for SCAS said: “The Trust has an electronic incident reporting system and encourages staff to report all incidents.

“When approaching a scene staff carry out a dynamic risk assessment and if they think that the scene is unsafe they can stand down and request further support from other Trust staff and/or the police.

“If Trust staff are assaulted then we will work with the police to try and obtain a sanction against the perpetrator.”

One person to comment on the statistics was Chris Cox, director of membership relations for the Royal College of Nursing.

He said: “It is unacceptable that going to work brings the threat of violence and danger.”