Written question asked by Alan Williams (Labour) on Monday, 5 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 December 2005. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Thursday, 12 January 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Medical Staff (Attacks)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases were recorded of attacks on (a) ambulance crews and (b) nurses in each year since 2003–04; how many there were in 2005–06; how many prosecutions were pursued in each case; and what sentences were imposed on those found guilty in each case where all proceedings are complete.

Answer: The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested. The national health service security management service (NHS SMS) is currently in the process of compiling and validating the first ever accurate figures for the levels of physical assault on NHS staff in 2004–05 for the acute, primary care and ambulance services; these will be will be released in the near future.Information relating to the number of physical assaults on staff working in NHS mental health and learning disability environments were released on 19 October 2005; these totalled 43,301 for the period 2004–05. In 2002–03 there were 59,992 violent incidents in these settings.The number of successful prosecutions involving physical assaults on NHS staff for 2004–05 was 759; a 15 fold rise over the 51 such prosecutions identified in 2002–03. In 2004–05 there were 100 successful prosecutions involving assaults on ambulance staff.No information on sentences imposed on offenders was collated for this period.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 441 c869-70W; 36012
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Crimes of violence Ambulance services NHS Prosecutions Nurses Sentencing
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk