Local magistrates are to hand out tougher sentences to offenders by treating violence against NHS workers as an aggravating factor when deciding sentences.

We will withdraw patient care if necessary to ensure our staff are safe

David Lingwood, Sandwell Healthcare NHS Trust

The move is part of a plan involving hospital chiefs and the police to combat violence and aggression against NHS staff by adopting a policy of zero tolerance.

The government ordered NHS bosses last year to put moves in place to give staff greater protection.

Before the launch, at Sandwell General Hospital, West Bromwich, the Birmingham Edgbaston MP said: "The campaign urges NHS employers to work more closely with the police locally to formulate and implement local crime and disorder strategies.

"There is much work to be done and it will take time. But if we are going to improve and modernise the NHS then we need to look after our staff.

"Providing a safe working environment free from the threat of violence must be part and parcel of that."

David Lingwood, Sandwell Healthcare NHS Trust's chief executive said: "As a Trust, we will withdraw patient care if necessary to ensure our staff are safe and, if appropriate, we will pursue a criminal or civil prosecution against an aggressor."

The government's initiative, announced in October by then health secretary Frank Dobson with the support of Home Secretary Jack Straw and the Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine, came after a survey of all 402 NHS Trusts revealed there are about 65,000 reported incidents of violence every year and one in seven of all reported injuries by workers at NHS Trusts are physical assaults by patients or visitors.

Under the proposals, Trusts have been set a target of reducing violence against staff by 20% by 2003 and have to publish their strategies to do this by April this year.