I've seen fire extinguishers set off and thrown at people, computers lifted and thrown across the emergency department and people run out of cubicles and punch other patients - people they don't know - for no reason."
Roger Webb, a security supervisor at the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) hospital in Nottingham, is recalling some of the more unsavoury incidents he has witnessed in the course of his work.
"I've been struck in the groin, had scratches all over my arms where people have dug their nails in. I've been bitten and I've been spat at while trying to deal with situations. The spitting is the most depressing of those, though, because it's so contemptuous and so horrible. And legally it's assault."
The abuse faced by staff at his hospital is more often verbal than physical. "I've had personal insults like being called short, stumpy, fat and four-eyed. I've also been called a male escort. I don't know how they got hold of that information," he laughs at that unlikely jibe.
Hannah Freer, a deputy charge nurse in the hospital's A&E, is among the many frontline staff who have been on the receiving end of a marked increase in hostility and aggression.
"My husband used to be a pub landlord," she says. "But we reckon that I've had more ABH than he ever had.
"I've had a man threaten to follow me home and firebomb my house. Luckily he got arrested. It does happen predominantly to females. There's a lot of sexual comments as well - I've had someone prosecuted for what he said to me - and sexual advances, including a lot of grabbing.
Denne historien er fra February 26, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra February 26, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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