'EXTREMELY worrying' figures reveal the rising levels of violence and verbal abuse faced by doctors and nurses at the John Radcliffe Hospital's A&E department.

Security logs obtained by this paper through a Freedom of Information request show in the first 10 months of this year alone there were 178 incidents of 'physical aggression' towards emergency staff, as well as 174 incidents of verbal abuse.

Scratches, cuts, and even a bite to the shoulder were among the injuries inflicted on staff at the JR and Horton General Hospital in Banbury, both run by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH).

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Things were so bad at the JR that on 138 occasions a person had to be removed from the hospital and police were called 34 times.

Violence at the Headington site is at its highest since 2015, when there were 185 incidents logged of 'physical aggression' for the entire 12-month period. Last year it was 157.

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It comes after this paper reported last month that stretched staff at the JR were already constantly battling to cope with 'severely congested' wards 24 hours a day with winter looming.

Ian Mckendrick, from Oxfordshire Unison's Health branch, said: "No one should expect to face violence and abuse as an almost daily occurrence in their work.

"Hospital staff are already struggling under immense pressure due to shortages to meet people's needs.

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"Being physically and verbally attacked can make the job feel impossible to do. It has a real impact on people's mood, their confidence and feeling of security."

He added: "It is understandable that people feel frustrated with the growing delays in treatment but they need to take this up with those responsible for causing the shortages, not the staff trying to treat people."

Mr Mckendrick said it was 'extremely worrying' that the latest figures were already 'the worst in the past four years' despite only covering a 10 month period.

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He added: "This is an issue that managers should be addressing as a matter of urgency: they have a legal duty to prevent and minimise the risks of attacks on staff, but the risks are going up not down."

Jacquie Pearce-Gervis, head of Oxfordshire's Patient Voice group also said it was 'unacceptable' for staff to be 'subjected to this behaviour', adding: "For other patients waiting to be seen, who also have a genuine reason for attending these departments, it is upsetting and distressing to have to witness such incidents."

There are two sources for recording violence and verbal abuse, the first is the DATIX system, those logged by staff, and the second from the Security Officer Logs.

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The first shows a much smaller number of incidents but a sharp rise, with only seven recorded violent incidents in 2015 at the John Radcliffe compared with 20 between January and October 2019.

An OUH spokesperson explained this jump was down to staff being encouraged to more frequently record verbal and physical abuse.

Sam Foster, Chief Nursing Officer at the trust, said keeping staff safe 'remains a priority' and there were measures in place to protect staff and patients.

These include conflict management training for staff in areas that are at higher risk of assault, as well as 'conflict management procedures' to advise and support staff dealing with 'assault, aggression, and harassment'.

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She added doctors and nurses were trained to care for patients with dementia and mental health needs.

The chief nurse continued: "When risks are identified, plans are put in place to ensure safeguarding measures are in there for patients and staff members.

"This could include nursing in pairs, or removing any objects that could be used to cause harm.

"When there are no clinical mitigating circumstances for an assault, the trust encourages and supports staff to report the perpetrator to the police, and will strongly support any prosecution of offenders."

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She added: "We appreciate that being in hospital, especially during busy periods, can be very stressful for patients but that isn’t an excuse for treating our staff poorly.

“Abuse and aggression to our staff which is not down to the clinical condition of the patient will not be tolerated at our hospitals.”