Staff in A&E are among those most likely to see violent patients

The call follows a study showing that as many as one in three doctors have been verbally or physically attacked by patients or their families in the past year.

A UK-wide survey of 826 doctors by the British Medical Association (BMA) found that 326 experienced some form of violence in the workplace recently.

Doctors say they have been sworn and shouted at, threatened and assaulted, some suffering serious injuries.

BMA Scotland said the findings highlighted the need for urgent action.

Attacks should be treated with the full force of the law, as is currently the case for assaults on police Dr John Garner BMA Scottish Council

Dr John Garner, chairman of the BMA Scottish Council, said: "It is unacceptable that health care professionals should be living with the fear of violence or that the threat of violence be an acceptable part of their job.

"It is no wonder we struggle to recruit and retain staff and unless there is a cultural change in behaviour, this will go from bad to worse.

"A clear message needs to be sent out by the Scottish Executive that violence will not be tolerated.

"Attacks should be treated with the full force of the law, as is currently the case for assaults on police."

The Criminal Justice Bill currently protects emergency workers, but the BMA is urging the Scottish Executive to extend this to cover all health care and public workers.

Threats and violence

The organisation wants increased security, sanctions or legal action against violent patients and preventative measures.

Of those staff who experienced violence in the past year, almost all said they had been verbally abused.

This mostly took the form of shouting or swearing. In some cases, the comments were racist.

Some 44% said they had been threatened and 22% said they had been physically assaulted.

This ranged from being pushed and shoved, hit and punched to being threatened with a knife, broken glass and even a computer screen.

Doctors fear recruitment is being hit

Among those who were assaulted, one in three suffered injuries. Some 6% said their injuries were serious.

The survey suggested that most violent incidents took place on the hospital ward or in the GP's office.

Two out of three incidents were reported to the police or resulted in patients being denied treatment again.

Dr Jason Long, chairman of the BMA's Scottish junior doctors' committee said: "Many staff work in a climate of fear in hospitals.

"Although the majority of patients and relatives behave in the appropriate manner, a small minority are abusive to staff.

Minister's response

"Alcohol and drugs are not an excuse for this behaviour and we need better protection for all staff and better deterrents to stop this happening."

Deputy Health Minister Tom McCabe said: "The executive is tackling this problem on a number of fronts because violence against the caring professions and NHS workers will not be tolerated.

"We issued guidelines two years ago for boards and trusts to draw up action plans on security measures and other issues.

"Further advice was issued this year on managing such incidents."