More than 51,000 violent incidents recorded against NHS staff since 2019

The Scottish Government has been urged to do more to protect NHS staff after figures revealed more than 51,000 attacks against workers have been recorded since 2019.

A series of freedom of information requests by the Scottish Liberal Democrats found 51,170 violent incidents were reported against NHS staff over the last six years.

While many boards only provided figures for staff in general, data from other boards showed at least 25,142 violent incidents were directed towards nursing staff, while another 344 were against doctors and 63 towards midwives.

NHS Tayside had the highest number of violent incidents with 10,689 reported since 2019, followed by Fife with 8,622 and Glasgow with 8,338.

In the last year, 1,178 such incidents were recorded at NHS Lothian and 1,138 were recorded at NHS Highland.

Over the last six years, NHS Dumfries and Galloway reported 3,566 violent incidents against employees.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton urged the Scottish Government to do more to protect health workers.

He said: “Like any other employee, NHS staff deserve to go to work without fear of violence or harassment.

“Staff are there to provide care, treatment and support. Often, they are under significant pressure in trying to do so; the last thing they need is to be met with violence and abuse.

“Incidents are still stubbornly high year after year, so I want to see the Scottish Government working closely with health boards, medical bodies and trade unions to understand what staff need to be safe at work.

“Ministers must also ensure that those who behave so abhorrently are given swift and thorough punishments, making it clear that violence will not be tolerated.”

Figures released last month showed frontline workers in Scotland suffered nearly 60 attacks every day.

NHS workers suffer the most, with health staff being the victims of 31 assaults a day, according to the data.

Meanwhile, police officers experience an average of 18 attacks every day, with a total of 6,657 such incidents in 2022-23.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “No one should be the victim of abuse or violence while at work and assaults on NHS staff are completely unacceptable.

“We continue to encourage all NHS organisations to support criminal proceedings against anyone who assaults staff.

“The courts have extensive powers to deal robustly with assaults.

“The Emergency Workers Act includes a penalty of up to 12 months’ imprisonment, a £10,000 fine, or both, and we have extended the act to include GPs, doctors, nurses and midwives working in the community.”