Nurse Dunnery managed to fight off her attacker

Pauline Dunnery, who works at Perth Royal Infirmary, said she thought she was going to die at the hands of an intruder.

Ms Dunnery was battered and sexually assaulted while working a night shift in November 2003.

She spoke out as the public service workers' union Unison stepped up its campaign for better staff protection.

She said: "Within seconds he had pulled the bottom of my skirt and I fell full force onto the floor on my back.

We've got fire alarms, why can we not have panic buttons direct to the police station? Nurse Pauline Dunnery

"I hadn't screamed, I forgot to scream. He started pummeling my head.

"So I was protecting my head with my arms and I kept thinking 'I'm going to die'.

"Every time I heard this sound, it was so loud, I just thought I wasn't going to see my children or my partner again."

Ms Dunnery kicked out and managed to fight off her attacker, by which time other staff had managed to stop the man from locking the door.

She said she was speaking out so that other nurses and medical staff would do the same and hospital security would be tightened.

She added: "I'm sure it wouldn't cost a lot of money to put in panic alarms, especially in rooms where all the controlled drugs are, or at a nurses' station.

"We've got fire alarms, why can we not have panic buttons direct to the police station?"

The man who attacked Ms Dunnery admitted the charge of serious assault with attempt to ravish and will be sentenced next month.

Unison's campaign, Free from Fear, was launched on Friday in Glasgow.