Violence against nursing staff: government must tackle NHS pressures

The Westminster government can reverse an “utterly abhorrent” rise in violence against staff by taking decisive action to reduce lengthy waits in A&E, ending corridor care and tackling chronic understaffing, the RCN says.

Freedom of Information requests to 89 trusts in England found that there were 4,054 incidences of physical violence against staff recorded in 2024, compared to 2,093 in 2019 – almost double.

Our analysis of NHS data also shows that waits of more than 12 hours in A&E increased by more than 20 times in the same period.

We’re warning ministers that failing to reduce violence in health care settings will see the Westminster government’s 10-Year Health Plan “fail completely”.

Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “Behind these shocking figures lies an ugly truth. Dedicated and hard-working nursing staff face rising violent attacks because of systemic failures that are no fault of their own. Every incident is unacceptable, but we need ministers and trust leaders to acknowledge some of the key underlying causes.”

The rise has been so pronounced that it means during a typical working day in England, a member of staff working in the emergency department is being attacked every hour.

At a Bristol hospital, incidents of violence against staff almost doubled between 2019 and 2024. The number of reported attacks increased from 83 to 152.

While at a hospital in Kent, incidents rose by more than 500% from 13 in 2019 to 89 in 2024.

A senior A&E nurse said her hospital was a “tinder box” for violence.

She has seen colleagues punched, kicked and had a gun pointed at them, and has herself been spat at by a patient and threatened with an acid attack.

She developed depression and anxiety and has taken a secondment in research as a break from the profession.

“The violence I saw made me become more fearful outside work. I saw how volatile people can be,” she said.

Senior charge nurse Rachelle said that things have got so bad in her hospital “even patients you would expect to be placid are becoming irate because of just how long they have to wait”.

Nicola continued: “Nursing staff not only go to work underpaid and undervalued but now face a rising tide of violence. It leads to both physical and mental scarring, lengthy time off and sometimes staff never returning. It's unarguably true that you can’t fix the health service when vital staff are too scared to even go into work.

"The government needs to do more than record the shocking levels of violence – it needs to reduce it. Measures to keep staff safe day-to-day are crucial, but the stark reality is that unless the government does something about lengthy waits, corridor care and understaffed nursing teams, more nursing staff will become victims of this utterly abhorrent behaviour.

"Left unaddressed, this could see plans to reform the NHS fail completely.”