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Hartlepool's hospital trust has seen a drop in incidents of violence towards staff compared to last year - but warnings have been issued over the impact of “under-reported” verbal attacks.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust figures state from April 2022 to January 2023 a total of 512 violent incidents were recorded, compared to 581 during the same period previously.

The most common type of report was “verbal abuse or disruption”, which rose from 207 to 247.

Fiona McEvoy, from the foundation trust, said: “I think sometimes that might be under-reported because there’s sort of an acceptance, we deal with it and manage it on a daily basis unfortunately.”

New figures suggest the number of violent incidents suffered by staff at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust has fallen.

Speaking at the latest meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council’s audit and governance committee, she added they have a “zero tolerance” policy to violent incidents.

Trust bosses, however, noted they do take into account the background of patients involved.

Councillor Rob Cook, committee chair, said verbal abuse can be “just as bad” as physical attacks due to the mental health impact it can have on staff.

Of the total 512 incidents, 448 involved the abuse of staff by patients with 64 involving abuse of workers by another person.

Keith Wheldon, business intelligence manager at the trust, added: “Even though some of the numbers are still relatively high, it is lower than the previous year.

“Unfortunately we can’t stop all of it, but it is good to see there is a downward trend.”

Concerns over personal safety dropped from 78 to 40 while incidents involving the need for use of control and restraint with a patient decreased from 50 to 20 and cases of “disruptive, aggressive behaviour” fell from 87 to 50.

Racial abuse reports dropped from 13 to five while assaults with a weapon decreased from six to four.

The amount of inappropriate behaviour and/or personal comments also dropped from 22 to 20.

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Incidents which saw an increase included “unintentional” physical abuse, assault or violence, which rose from 108 to 115, while “malicious” cases went from nine to 11.

Ray Martin-Wells, from the foundation trust, said: “We don’t just leave our staff to it afterwards. We wrap support around that person just to make sure that they are okay going forward.”

The figures are trust-wide rather than for individual sites.

Number of violent incidents suffered by staff at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust falls