Security guards have been recruited at a hospital to protect staff from attacks by patients.

The two officers patrol Airedale Hospital where ass-aults on medics have more than doubled in two years.

Two male nurses have just returned to work after being attacked. They needed time off to recover and their treatment has involved counselling.

Latest figures reveal that 38 staff were attacked up until November 5 last year, compared with 31 in 1997 and 17 in 1996.

The violent incidents have caused a range of injuries from broken limbs to cuts and bruises. Most attackers are under the influence of drink or drugs.

In the firing line particularly are staff working in the accident and emergency department and in the mental health wing.

Airedale Communtiy Health Council (CHC) - an NHS watchdog - and the health union UNISON are calling for tougher penalties for people who ass-ault hospital staff. They want the crime to be given the same gravity as assaults on police officers acting in the execution of their duty.

Unison official and nurse Linda Dalton wrote to Airedale NHS Trust chief executive Bob Allen following the latest attacks and has welcomed the latest moves. "We need tougher sentencing from the courts - there needs to be a bigger deterrent," she says. "An attack on a nurse should be treated in the same way as an attack on a police officer. As nurses, we are in similar situations.

"The possibility of attack should not be regarded as part of the job - our work is hard enough without having to face physical and verbal abuse. What is happening is awful. People should be dealt with strongly."

The CHC has called on magistrates and police to act tougher with attackers. Chief officer John Godward says: "We are asking that any person found guilty of or pleading guilty to offering violence to NHS employees while in the execution of their duty is given an exemplary sentence."

He says the CHC is calling on staff to report instances of threats or attacks so they can be passed on to the police. "We are very concerned because we feel that no person working to alleviate suffering should be in a position where they are attacked," he says.

Sue Franks, the hospital's director of nursing, says staff are being encouraged to report assaults. She blames alcohol and drug abuse and the general rise in violence in society.

"We want to protect and support our staff," she pledges. "They should not have to come to work to be abused and attacked."

Particularly vulnerable are staff in accident-and-emergency and the mental health wards. A consultant is among those who have been attacked.

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