(2) what estimate he has made of the number of nurses physically abused by patients in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
In April 2003 the National Health Service Security Management Service (NHS SMS) was created and assumed responsibility for tackling violence against NHS staff.
Since 2003-04 the NHS SMS has collated data on the number of criminal sanctions following assaults against NHS staff in England. The numbers are in the following table. The numbers of prosecutions following assaults against doctors and nurses are included within these figures and are not available separately.
Criminal sanctions 2003-04 51 2004-05 759 2005-06 850 2006-07 869
Criminal sanctions include:
cautions and conditional cautions;
community rehabilitation or punishment orders;
imprisonment (including suspended sentences);
conditional discharges; and
fines.
Since 2004-05 the NHS SMS has collected data on the number of physical assaults reported against NHS staff in England for the categories shown in the following table. The numbers of nurses physically assaulted by patients are included within these figures and are not available separately.
Reported assaults by sector 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Ambulance service 1,333 1,104 1,006 Acute/foundation trusts 10,758 11,100 9,685 Primary care 5,192 5,145 3,445 Mental health/learning disability 43,097 41,345 41,569 Other (special health authority) 5 1 4 Total 60,385 58,695 55,709