THEY'VE been knocked unconscious, throttled with power cords, stuck with drawing pins and beaten with walking sticks, not to mention being bitten, punched, slapped, kicked, scratched and of course verbally abused.

After we uncovered the horrific level of violence endured by life-saving paramedics in the field, today the Evening Press can reveal what their hero colleagues INSIDE York Hospital are subjected to in the course of their day-to-day duties.

Figures obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, show that since 2002 the number of incidents of violence and intimidation reported by hospital workers has risen nearly five times, from 11 to 52 last year.

Already this year eight incidents have been reported, including patients who bit, scratched, kicked, hit and verbally abused staff.

One York union leader said the shocking levels of violence in today's hospitals made her "angry".

Unison branch secretary Edna Mulhearn - a staff nurse on the hospital's head and neck ward - said: "These people are there to help people and it saddens me that they have to put up with this abuse.

"Twenty years ago violence was nothing near as bad as it is now.

"The trust have put up posters and they have let staff know that it will be treated as an offence."

Accident and emergency nurse Alison Sayers, who chairs the York branch of the Royal College of Nursing, said verbal aggression had seen a marked rise during her years of nursing.

She said: "It can be quite frightening. We sometimes find it's not actually the patients, it's the people that come in with them.

"People don't respect hospitals the way they used to."

Last September, hospital staff had to wrestle a deranged arsonist to the ground and sedate him after he started a blaze in a ward.

Stefan Robert Yeomans, 57, of Bramham Road, Chapelfields, York, could be facing lengthy imprisonment after he admitted starting a fire in York Hospital's medical admissions ward - endangering the lives of staff, four patients and a baby.

He also admitted causing actual bodily harm to nurse Nichola Burdett, during the incident on September 16 last year.

Almost 90 patients had to be evacuated from the hospital in the early hours of September 16, as firefighters battled the third-floor blaze.

The highest number of attacks occurred in the hospital's elderly medicine department with 22 last year. They included 12 reports of staff being attacked by patients, in one case with a walking stick and in another the patient stuck drawing pins into the worker.

JIM Easton, chief executive at York Hospitals NHS Trust, outlined the ways in which the problem of violence towards staff was being tackled.

Mr Easton said: "Like us, many members of the community will find it upsetting that staff committed to caring for sick and poorly patients - many requiring urgent attention - should be subjected to threatening behaviour, verbal or physical abuse.

"I want to reassure people that this behaviour is not tolerated in any form at York Hospital. There is clearly no place for harassment of any kind in the NHS.

"Our staff go to work to care for others - not to become victims of violence, aggression or intimidation. They do a marvellous job, often in very difficult circumstances, and the least they can expect is to be treated fairly, and with dignity and respect wherever they work.

"Unfortunately, violence is a society problem not exclusive to the confines of the NHS. However, we will not be complacent about measures to tackle it.

"We have put measures in place to help ensure our staff are protected, as part of a national NHS Zero Tolerance programme. This involves working closely with North Yorkshire Police.

Mr Easton said these included:

A committment to encouraging all staff to report incidents through theAdverse Incident Reporting System (AIRS). This involves staff logging all acts of violence and aggression so the trust can notify the police and courts take action where appropriate

lMaking personal alarms available to all staff regarded as lone workers

lReviewing the most effective way of providing all staff (who have contact with patients or the public) with specialist training in conflict resolution

lClose circuit television cameras and a high presence of uniformed security staff on site. This includes the appointed of a new security liaison officer last month, as part of thecommitment to keeping staff, patients and visitors safe.

"Although we do not tolerate violence and aggression towards our staff, we do understand that there are times when people genuinely behave in ways they are later regretful for.

"For example, we appreciate that sometimes there will be elderly patients who are confused and may act inappropriately through no fault of their own.

"We also understand that grief and being concerned about a family member can manifest itself in different ways. That is why all our frontline staff are trained to recognise this sort of behaviour and deal with it appropriately."

Updated: 10:29 Thursday, May 26, 2005